


LeftRight Split

by neo7v



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Accidents, Altered Mental States, Alternate Universe - College/University, Amnesia, Angst and Feels, Angst and Humor, At first anyways, Backstory, Brotherly Love, Bullying, College, First Meetings, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, For Science!, Hinata Shouyou is Sunshine, Inspired by Music, Kagehina is one person, Kageyama Tobio is a Dork, LITERALLY, Loss, Loss of Control, Loss of Identity, M/M, Memory Loss, Mental Instability, Mom Tsukishima, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pain, Panic Attacks, Paralysis, Paraplegia, Personality Split, Psychological Trauma, Romantic Fluff, Science Experiments, Scientist Sugawara Koushi and Sawamua Daichi, Step-Brothers, Step-siblings, Technology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-02-23 21:14:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13198689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neo7v/pseuds/neo7v
Summary: Kagehina Yamato no longer existed. Instead, Hinata Shoyou and Kageyama Tobio now do.Kagehina's brother is a wreck and can't face how his brother is 'gone'. His friends are lost without the bright sunshine in their life.  Problems arise that were once buried and maybe some things are better left in the dark than out in the open...But what spurred Kagehina into doing this program? Was it really for the money? Or was it for a different motive that nobody realizes yet? And how much damage could a month's time cause? Apparently more than anyone could have predicted when the flyer from KarasunoTech appeared in Kagehina's hands labelled, "LeftRight Split".(Inspired by the song 'Left Brain, Right Brain' by Bo Burnham)CURRENTLY ON HIATUS





	1. Kagehina Yamata: The Idiot

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've been planning this fanfic inspired by 'Left Brain, Right Brain' by Bo Burnham for months and now I'm finally launching the series! This is only the first chapter and it's just to set up the start of the story, so it's a lot lot lot shorter than what the chapters are going to be. I have nothing to do tomorrow, so I'll probably be posting the second chapter tomorrow and it will be a lot longer than this one.
> 
> I hope this story interests you and I'm always open to listening to any requests you might have! Most of the major plot lines have already been determined, so hopefully this fic won't take as long to finish as the one I just finished up.
> 
> Without further ado, Enjoy the chapter!

It wasn’t as if Kagehina Yamata was broke or anything, (he was actually quite well off for being a college student,) but when an advertisement offered two hundred and fifty dollars, well, he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.

“I’m gonna do it,” Kagehina declared, snatching the paper with the advertisement on it from the student board and holding it high like it was Simba from the Lion King. He heard a sigh beside him and looked over to find Tsukishima Kei shaking his head exasperatedly.

“Have you even thought this through?” Tsukishima inquired, eyebrows raised at the idiotic boy. Kagehina let out a huff of annoyance.

“Of course I have! You have so little faith in me Tsukki!”

“So then what are you supposed to do? What day do you have to be there? Do you have to call ahead? Which company is it for?” Kagehina stared back blankly at the blond who only face palmed himself in response. “Maybe actually read all the information first, ya idiot.”

So Kagehina did just that, reading aloud the information. “‘KarasunoTech is in need of a college student to volunteer as a subject in the new LeftRight Split program to test if the left and right spectrums of the brain can be separated into two new entities. As the machine is only a prototype, the company fully disclaims any injuries that may occur during the process and the subject must be willing to sign a waiver in case of an occurrence of bodily harm. Please call 1-897-346-8766 for more information on the time and date of when the program will occur. We hope to hear from you soon!’” He looked up from the paper. “What does it mean they fully disclaim any injuries?”

Tsukishima snatched the paper away from Kagehina in one quick swoop. “Okay, then. You’re not doing this program and that’s final.” The setter’s eyes drooped, mouth twisting into a pout.

“Why not?” he whined. “It doesn’t sound too bad and the pay is pretty good too! Two hundred and fifty dollars is enough to buy new volleyball shoes and then some! New volleyball shoes…” He trailed off, a dreamy smile on his face. A snap of fingers right next to his ear had him jerking back to the present, only to find Tsukishima boring into him with his eyes.

“As much as I hate you, dying in a questionably science fiction way seems a bit too much even for you. So, no. While I may regret this later, I’m not allowing you to do this. As your…” he hissed in annoyance,” friend it is my obligation to make sure you don’t die and this seems like it might end that way.”

Hearing Tsukishima actually being nice to him for once had the opposite effect on Kagehina that the blond was going for. He snatched the paper back and took off running from the scene, shouting back, ”I’m gonna do it just because you said not to!” After a moment of stunned silence, Tsukishima’s legs finally took the memo and started running after the crimson haired man. “And you can’t stop me!”

“Idiot!” the blond huffed back, struggling to catch up. “If you get hurt, don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

Kagehina scoffed internally at that. Why would he get hurt? KarasunoTech was a trustworthy company that had increased in popularity over the past few years with their products that were truly science fiction come to life and none of their products could possibly be detrimental to someone’s health. Tsukishima was just being overprotective, something he must have picked up from his boyfriend, Yamaguchi. This program would be completely safe and he’d come out of it two hundred and fifty bucks richer.

He finally arrived at his dorm complex after a few minutes of jogging, swiping his key card quickly and bursting through the doors in one quick motion. As Kagehina shuffled up the stairs to the second floor where he had a dorm room to himself (due to his roommate always staying over at his girlfriend’s apartment), he pulled his phone out of the pocket of his khakis and quickly dialed in the number on the paper. Almost instantly, someone picked up the phone.

“Hello, this is KarasunoTech. You are currently speaking to Nishinoya Yuu. How may I help you?”

“Er, I’m calling about the LeftRight Split program? The ad said you needed a college student and I’m willing to help out.” Why did he call again? Kagehina wasn’t exactly the most outgoing of people and speaking on the phone certainly wasn’t his forte, so the awkward silence that ensued after that only made him even more nervous. ‘This is Kagehina Yamata by the way, in case you needed a name.”

The sound of papers shuffling filled through the receiver for a moment before the man finally answered, “Sugawara Koushi and Sawamura Daichi are the heads of the program. If you could wait a moment please, I will dispatch this call to Sugawara and you can finalize the details for when you’re available to do this with him.”

Soothing elevator music floated through the phone’s receiver and Kagehina relaxed instantly. While he’d never admit it outloud, Tsukishima’s words had an effect on him. If he really thought about it, KarasunoTech was pretty sketchy when it came to news about the prototype experiments and there had been injuries in the past. Yet he couldn’t remember ever hearing about there being a casualty during them, so he was probably going to be fine.

That’s what he was trying to convince himself anyways as the phone line beeped on the other end and a sweet, lilting voice replaced the music. “Hello, this is Sugawara Koushi speaking. I hear you’re an applicant for the LeftRight Split program, Mr. Kagehina Yamata. Is that correct?”

“Uh, yeah. I-I am,” he stuttered out between chattering teeth. Had his dorm room always been this cold? Taking a deep breath to calm his quaking body, he continued. “That other man said I needed to talk to you about picking a time to come in?”

The faint shuffling of papers could be heard in the background. “That is correct. If you could just wait a moment please, I can pull up the available days for the testing and we can find one that suits both of our schedules. Does that sound good to you?”

Kagehina felt his heart calm the more this Sugawara spoke. What a calm and pleasant voice to listen to. Almost like magic…

“Mr. Kagehina?”

He startled out of whatever state of mind he’d been in. “Yes, that sounds fine. Thank you for the opportunity!” He yelled the last part out of habit and could hear the other man laughing softly in the background before the sound was cut off once again by elevator music.

“KAGEHINA OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR I’LL KNOCK IT DOWN!” Pounding started on the door, the sound reverberating throughout the room and shaking the walls in bursts of energy.

If he knew anything at that moment, it was that he definitely shouldn’t listen to Tsukishima. The image of volleyball shoes hung in front of him like a mirage as he promptly closed himself into the bathroom so he couldn’t hear Kei’s yelling anymore. Ah, what a relief from what could have been an aggravating headache.

The music cut off and the other man’s voice came back. “We have this afternoon open along with Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Which will work best with your schedule?”

Kagehina thought for a moment. Perhaps he should just get this done today and have the time to order the shoes before next week’s practice match against K University. His face slacked into a dreamy smile as he imagined setting the ball in brand new shoes. What a wonderful feeling that would be…

“Today works fine!” he practically squealed out in excitement. “I don’t have any more classes, so I should be able to swing around Karasuno Tech in about an hour. Is that alright?”

He could practically feel this Sugawara beaming brightly on the other side of the phone. “That works splendidly! Make sure to bring your driver’s license along with you in addition to someone else that knows where your dorm is in case of any side effects that may cause dizziness or something of the like. As soon as you get here, make sure to go to the front desk and sign in. Someone will also give you a waiver to sign for the program and it’s very important that you sign it.” Kagehina heard papers shuffling again in the background. “I believe that’s all. Any other information will be provided once you get here. Does everything sound clear enough?”

“Yup!” Kagehina responded back. “See you in an hour then!”

Sugawara chuckled softly on the other end. “I’ll see you soon.”

The click of the ended call had Kagehina quickly shuffling out of the bathroom and searching for his wallet amidst the piles of clothes. He knew it had to be somewhere around here…

There! He spotted the orange and black wallet in the back pocket of yesterday’s jeans. Flipping it open, Kagehina was glad to find his driver’s license tucked safely into its pocket, along with a a few fives he didn’t realize were there.

Now the only problem left was a friend that wouldn’t leave him in the nearest alley if there was any side effects (Kuroo being the main culprit who would pull such a stunt). Were any of his friends responsible enough to handle Kagehina’s explosive personality? Lev? Decidedly no on that one, for multiple reasons. Hanamaki? Unless he wanted to wake up with a different hair color, that was also a no. Maybe Yachi? No, she’d panic at the slightest chance of something being wrong. Who to pick…

A round of knocks on the door interrupted his chain of thoughts. Oh yeah, Tsukishima was still at the door. Wait. Tsukishima was a responsible friend. Kagehina felt an involuntary smirk curl along his lips. Now to kidnap said friend and get those volleyball shoes! (Because clearly the volleyball shoes were more important than his friendship with Stingshima. Who would even attempt to think differently? Obviously only an idiot.)

Kagehina opened the door abruptly, halting Tsukishima with his fist halfway to the door. Latching onto his wrist, he started to run, forcing Tsukishima to run along with him. “Wha-”

“No time to explain! We have roughly forty-five minutes to get there and you’re my responsible friend there to guide me home! Accept it and this will go a lot smoother, Kei. Okay?”

A loud, drawn out sigh could be heard from behind him. “I suppose someone needs to make sure you don’t get killed. Why else would you keep me around for?” Tsukishima wrenched his wrist out of his grip. “And I can run on my own, thank you very much.”

Kagehina had to suppress a grin at how easy that had been. He’d expected a long drawn out argument at the least, so this was quite unexpected to say the least. Perhaps his rashness was growing on the blond boy a bit. He let out a low chuckle at the thought. Him? An influence on the sassy blond called Kei Tsukishima? What an amusing way to look at this. It was more like Tsukishima had given up on stopping Kagehina more than anything else. At least, that’s the only thing that made sense to him.

“Oi! Watch where you’re going!” Kagehina was suddenly pulled out of the way of a streetlight that had been directly in front of him. “Why did I ever become friends with an idiot like you?

Why indeed? Kagehina sure didn’t know and thinking about it too long gave him a headache. He supposed it was probably because he needed an impulse control in his life that he clearly lacked and Tsukishima just happened to be that control. If only he would listen to Kei a bit more instead of charging ahead with no plans. It’d help him in the long run, sure, but was it as fun?

Certainly not, he decided as they approached the stairs to Karasuno Tech. What was life without a little bit of craziness mixed in?


	2. Tsukishima Kei: The Docile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei Tsukishima was by no means a docile man in any aspect. He’d been called brash, rude, stubborn, and many other similar names throughout the years. But never docile. Never waiting on the sidelines for fate to decide what happened next or for others to dictate how he lived his life. Yet, in this moment of time, Kei Tsukishima was a docile bystander that couldn’t do anything to help Kagehina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I uh, I have no excuse for this being so much later. I got Overwatch for Christmas and now I'm kind of addicted to it and have been playing that instead of writing... On a positive note, one of my poems is getting published! Highlight of my writing career right there and something I never thought would happen :)
> 
> Without further ado, Enjoy the chapter!

Ok, so maybe Kagehina should have thought this through a bit more? At least that’s what finally crossed through his mind as he was strapped down on a table, wrists and ankles tied tightly and left with no room to wiggle out of it. To make matters worse, as he sent a pleading look over to Tsukishima (who was smirking from ear to ear on the other side of the glass, he just shrugged and mouthed ‘I told you so’.

Great. Just great. There went his only escape route out of whatever the heck was happening right now. Why did Kagehina agree to this again? Oh, yeah. For the volleyball shoes. Those sweet, sweet, volleyball shoes and just the feel of them as he’d use them to jump up and set the ball…

“This shouldn’t hurt too much, okay?” Sugawara’s lilting voice broke through his thoughts and he once again felt nerves creeping in on him as a bright light started to shine from above him. He strained once again at his restraints as the other man brushed the back of his hand softly against Kagehina’s crimson hair in an attempt to soothe him. “Try to relax. It’ll hurt less that way.”

And then he was out of the room too, silver hair joining next to blond. He gave a thumbs up to whoever was running the machine and the lights changed color, blue on his left side and a bright red on his right.

A crack of pain flashed through his head, bringing with it a splitting headache like no other he’d ever experienced. Kagehina cast a pleading gaze towards Tsukishima once more, eyes glazing over in pain the longer he kept them open. It hurt. His head hurt so much, yet Kei still stayed there, face no longer smirking. But he still did nothing to stop them.

“Help me Kei,” he croaked out, even knowing that his friend couldn’t hear him. But the basic idea of what he said must have gotten across to Tsukishima as Kagehina saw his friend turn towards Sugawara and start yelling at the shorter man, pointing towards Kagehina profusely.

But as Kagehina’s vision started to fade to black, he knew it was in vain. Was this the end for him? But he didn’t want to go. There was still so many things he wanted to do. So many people to talk to and places to see.

His consciousness tugged in two directions again, causing the headache to double in pain. As the lights faded, Kagehina felt tears prickle in the corners of his eyes. This had been a mistake. 

He didn’t want to go. He didn’t want to go. He didn’t want to go. He didn’t w-  
____________________________________________________________________________

Tsukishima didn’t know why he had agreed to this in the end as he stared back at the now sobbing Kagehina, his wrists raw from pulling at the restraints. It wasn’t until he saw him mouth ‘help me’ that something seemed to snap inside of him. What was he doing just standing there idly and watching one of his dearest friends in pain?

“Stop this,” he snarled towards the silver haired man to his right, turning to glare at him. His left hand was pointed shakily at Kagehina, the sight too much to bear watching any longer. “Can’t you see he’s in pain?!”

The man didn't even spare him a glance as the lights became too bright to see anything in the room. “He'll be fine. Well, they'll be fine is the more proper way to say it.”

Tsukishima felt his eyes widen. What did he mean they? Dread pooled in his stomach as he recalled something Kagehina had said about the program at the very beginning. Something he'd discarded as irrelevant. He’d said something about being split into two entities based on the subject’s left and right side of their brain. What had Kagehina gotten himself into?

The lights suddenly turned off, leaving the room pitch black. Panic surged through him as he frantically banged on the glass window. “Get him out of there!”

“Not him,” the silver haired man retorted. “Them.”

The lights clicked on again, but there was no one strapped onto the table. Instead, two people Tsukishima had never seen before were curled up by each other, the smaller one with fluffy orange hair and the bigger one with silky black hair.

Tsukishima stared at the scene in horror. “What the heck did you do to Kagehina?”

The smile the other man wore on his face sent a shiver running down Kei’s spine. “Kagehina doesn’t exist anymore. His left and right states of mind have been split into two new entities. After we conduct a few tests, I promise we’ll put him back together. But for now, we need him for our study. If you can’t comply and stay quiet, we’ll have to forcefully remove you from the premise. Is that clear?”

He sighed. “Crystal.”

Kei Tsukishima was by no means a docile man in any aspect. He’d been called brash, rude, stubborn, and many other similar names throughout the years. But never docile. Never waiting on the sidelines for fate to decide what happened next or for others to dictate how he lived his life. Yet, in this moment of time, Kei Tsukishima was a docile bystander that couldn’t do anything to help Kagehina.

Scientists had gathered around the two unconscious boys, clipboards held closely to their chests as their chatter rose in excitement. A hush fell over the gathered crowd as the silver haired man and another man with coal black hair stood in front of them all, their voices muffled by the wall between them and Tsukishima.

To put it simply, Tsukishima was frustrated. Watching the scientists poke and prod the still unconscious forms of his friend had his blood boiling. When one became bold enough to open one of the boys’ mouths, he bared his own teeth in response, teeth grinding loudly in the deafening silence of the observation room.

He turned away, his back hitting the glass with a soft thud as he slowly slid to the floor. Tucking his head in between his legs, Kei sat there, waiting for this horror to end.  
_____________________________

Tsukishima wasn’t sure how long he sat there until the silver haired man came back out, hands twisted together around his knees and breath labored despite his efforts to stay calm. He quickly looked up once he heard the approaching footsteps, the corners of his eyes tinted red in the dim light. “How is he?”

“They,” the man emphasized, “are good. Still, unconscious, but that’s understandable at this stage of creation. It took a lot of their energy to split in such a way and they should be like that for a while yet.”

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean ‘for a while yet’?” he sneered. “Kagehina is supposed to be put back together as soon as the testing is finished and I’m pretty sure you just implied that the testing is done. Why isn’t he back together yet?”

The other man hesitated, guilt flashing across his face for a second (the first sign of it he’d seen from him all day). “Well, uh, there’s been a slight problem.”

A furrow had accumulated between Tsukishima’s eyebrows by now, deepening even more with those seven little words. “How big of a problem?” he hissed, moving closer until her was towering over the silver haired man.

He gulped loudly, foot banging into the door behind him as he tried, and failed (to Tsukishima’s satisfaction), to back away from the blond. “We, uh… We can’t get Kagehina back together. The machine malfunctioned.”

It took a second until Tsukishima fully understood the words the scientist had said, yet his body seemed to realize what was happening because as he came back to his senses, the silver haired man was under him while multiple scientists were shouting at him to back away. His hands gripped tightly into the man’s white lab coat, his knuckles devoid of color and eyes stinging not with tears, but with anger. “What do you mean you can’t put him back?!”

The man was shaking beneath him, the whites are his eyes prominent. “It’s a minor problem!” he huffed out. “The machine will most likely be fixed in a month, so you just have to watch them for that time until the machine is running again. It’s an unforeseen error, but minor compared to what could have happened.”

A shuffling sound had both of them bolting up and staring towards the now stirring Kagehina entities. The first to properly open his eyes, shift onto his elbows, and look around the room excitedly was the one with puffy orange hair. His gaze immediately landed on the raven haired one.

Shuffling over until he was above the still lying down raven, the ginger placed his hands on his shoulders and shook the man excessively. “Kags! This is no time to take a nap. Wake up already!”

Tsukishima had moved off the silver haired man without realizing it, mouth agape as he stared at the pair from the doorway.

“Go away, Hina,” the raven haired man, who the other one had called Kags, groaned out, rolling over and away from the one called Hina.

Hina pouted, flinging himself on top of Kags with an over dramatic sigh. “You’re never any fun!” He snuggled closer to Kags, arms hugging the raven closely. “Jerk.”

“Idiot,” Kags snarled lightheartedly back, a slight smile gracing his lips.

“Moron.”

Bickering ensued between the pair. Tsukishima breathed out something between a sigh and laughter. Of course Kagehina would bicker with himself (themself? themselves?) when separated in such a way. It was such a Kagehina thing to do to argue and insult his way out of any situation.

The silver haired man joined Tsukishima at the doorway, a single eyebrow arched at the display happening in front of them. “Should I be concerned?”

Kei actually started laughing at that, his anger with the man put aside for the moment. “Yeah, but shouldn’t he be more concerned that he’s split up then bickering with between his counterparts.”

“I’m not sure,” the man said thoughtfully. “For all we know, they recall nothing of their shared life together and are blank slates in terms of memory. Although…” He trailed off at that, face scrunched up in thought.

“Although?” Tsukishima prompted the man.

“Although, they do seem to remember parts of their names in association with each other. Hina, the orange haired one, called the raven Kags and vice versa for Hina. Perhaps this represents which part of their name they associate with.” He cleared his throat briefly. “The only way to know for sure is to ask. Excuse me a moment.”

And before Tsukishima could blink, the silver haired man had sidled up to the mess of two men on the floor who were still throwing insults at each other. The both immediately stopped however as soon as the man opened his mouth.

“Hello, my name’s Sugawara Koushi” he practically purred. (Oh, that’s his name. Perhaps Kei should have picked up on it earlier.) “It’s nice to properly meet you two! Your friend Tsukishima brought you here, but forgot to mention your names. Could you tell me them?” Suga smiled angelically, head tilted slightly.

Kags huffed. “Sounds like something Tsukishima would do,” he grumbled. “I’m Kageyama Tobio and this is-”

“I’m Hinata Shouyou,” the other one interrupted, a bright smile lighting up his face as he bounced to his feet and off Kageyama.

The raven scowled, clearly irritated to be interrupted. Tsukishima held his hand over his mouth, stifling his laugh. Both of those expressions were definitely common to find on Kagehina. And the names did make sense. Kagehina Yamata. Kageyama and Hinata. He did always wander off, which explains the Shouyou part. Perhaps Hinata was the right side of his consciousness. And for the Tobio part, he does think he’s quite a manly person (although Kei believes differently), so perhaps that’s what’s associated most for his left side of his consciousness. Neither side seemed especially smart, a fact that Tsukishima snickered at, which made guessing which side was who even more impossible.

Tsukishima might have continued to ponder on who was what side if it wasn’t for what Kageyama asked next. His heart stopped beating for a second.

“This is fine and dandy and all, but who the heck is Tsukishima? And where are we? I… I can’t recall anything except my name and-” he sent a glare over to Hinata who just ignored it,”- this idiot right here. Could you explain any of this to me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I don't know when I'll get a schedule going for this story, but I'll try to post once a week if I can. School has started again and I'm trying to readjust to that and continue this story. My birthday is also this week, so I'm not sure how much time I'll be writing.
> 
> Hope to see you guys next time and I hope you guys have a good week! I love writing this story and I hope you loved reading it too!


	3. Kageyama Tobio: The Protector

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kageyama carefully placed his arm around Hinata’s thin shoulders and pulled him closer, away from Suga. Caramel brown eyes gazed back at him as he looked down at Hinata. “What are you doing Kags?”
> 
> His heart squeezed painfully in response. Why was this idiot so gosh darn cute? Feeling his cheeks heat up in response to the thought, he shoved the ginger-haired man away, lifting a hand to cover his reddened face. “There was something on your shoulder,” he muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided that with my busy schedule, I'm going to try to update every two weeks and hopefully sooner in between if I can, but no later than that. Sorry the chapters aren't getting any longer yet. I was going to make this one longer, but I decided that where I ended it was the best way to stop it.
> 
> Without further ado, Enjoy the chapter!
> 
> (Warning that there is a panic attack in this chapter.)

Kageyama wasn’t sure where he was, his stomach was growling in hunger, and his head hurt as if someone had bashed it in (which was entirely possible with Hinata always around). The plain blue shirt and skin tight black jeans wasn’t something he remembered putting on this morning either. In fact, he wasn’t sure where he was or how he even got there to begin with. All he could remember was the close bond he shared with Hina, although he couldn’t remember when they had met or how. And he did remember the name Tsukishima, but he didn’t remember who exactly he was.

It was… strange to say the least. Kageyama wouldn’t call himself a forgetful person, so this complete blank felt wrong and unnatural, as if someone else had caused this haziness in his mind. But that couldn’t be right.

He turned towards the silver haired man, Suga he recalled, who patiently watched the two of them with an eerie glint in his eyes. “You two came here for the LeftRight Split program held by my company, Karasuno Tech,” Suga explained with a patient smile on his face. “A few simple tests were run, but one of them backfired a bit. That’s most likely the reason you’ve lost your memory. I assume Hinata has also lost his then?”

He turned his patient smile towards Hinata, and Kageyama felt his blood boil in response. (Who did this man think he was, gazing at his Hina like that so casually.) “Well,” Hinata began, “I do remember that I’m an art major and Kageyama is a writing major. I also remember we share a dorm room, but I can’t remember which dorm or what college we’re at. Although, I’m a pretty forgetful person in the first place, so that’s not out of the ordinary.”

Kageyama carefully placed his arm around Hinata’s thin shoulders and pulled him closer, away from Suga. Caramel brown eyes gazed back at him as he looked down at Hinata. “What are you doing Kags?”

His heart squeezed painfully in response. Why was this idiot so gosh darn cute? Feeling his cheeks heat up in response to the thought, he shoved the ginger-haired man away, lifting a hand to cover his reddened face. “There was something on your shoulder,” he muttered.

Daring a glance down, he found Hinata beaming at him, and his heart thudded heavily in his chest. Curse his cuteness. “Thanks Kags!” He let out a low snicker. “I never knew you paid attention that much to others.”

He didn’t pay attention to others, though. Only Hinata from what he could remember. That should be concerning to him, but it wasn’t. Now, if only he could remember how he’d met him…

A college kid with slightly curling blond hair and boxed glasses cleared his throat loudly, interrupting whatever staring contest was happening between Kageyama and Hinata. “This is all fine and dandy,” he drawled, “But it’s about time I take them back to their dorm and fill them in on what they’ve missed. He, er I mean they, have classes tomorrow and I need to bring them up to speed on, well, everything. So we should probably go…”

“Wait!” Hinata squealed out. “What about the money from doing the program? I wanted to buy some new volleyball shoes!” He puffed out his lower lip at the blond and stomped his foot down. “Stingyshima, I’m not leaving until I get my volleyball shoes money!”

“Interesting,” Suga murmured, eliciting a growl from Kageyama. Suga continued muttering under his breath, ignoring the raven haired man. He caught a few words such as, “Hinata”, “Tsukishima”, and “Remembers”. His glaring at the man only intensified as the man pulled out the clipboard from under his arm and began scribbling down notes.

Kageyama attempted to peer over the man’s shoulder, but after a warning glare from Suga that lowered the room temperature a good ten degrees, he stopped and instead decided to ask about it. “Why is it interesting? And who’s Tsukishima again?”

“I’m Tsukishima,” the blond man huffed. “We’ve been best friends for ten years. You and me and… Hinata. We met in elementary school when you tried out for the local junior volleyball club I was in. We fought a lot in the first few years, but eventually became friends and soon after best friends in middle school. You were my first friend, even before I met Yamaguchi, my boyfriend.” He let out a hiss through his teeth. “It irks me that you can’t remember any of this, but it’s okay. I’ll just have to retell every stupid thing that you… you two have done since I’ve known you.”

Tsukishima’s lips twitched into a small grin as if reminiscing about something. He probably was if the way his eyes became distant and cloudy was any indication.

Kageyama wondered what memory of him and Hinata could make someone smile so sweetly. They were nuisances from what he could recall from his own clouded memories; always getting into trouble and causing mayhem everywhere they went.

“Aww, Tsukki thinks of us as best friends!” Hinata wiped away a fake tear. “And to think, I thought I’d never see the day…”

Tsukishima sighed. “That’s the exact reason that I didn’t tell you. Every piece of affection I throw at you, you gobble up like a greedy animal. It’s annoying.”

Hinata stuck out his tongue in response. “You’re annoying.”

“Guys,” Kageyama interrupted, fed up with whatever was happening between them. “Can we leave now? I want to get… caught up on what I’ve forgotten.” He sent a furtive glance at Suga. “And I’m really tired too.”

Suga must have noticed the suspicious glance he’d sent towards him (if that creepy half smirk said anything about it) because he nodded his head in agreement. “Yes, that sounds like a splendid plan! Daichi will be giving Tsukishima a list of things in case anything goes wrong, along with a direct line to this lab. If you have any problems at all, be sure to call us and all help you two to the best of my abilities!”

A kind looking man with short, black hair stepped forward holding a purple folder and handed it to the blond man. Leaning closer, he whispered something into the man’s ear before stepping back, a hesitant smile on his face.

“Of course,” Tsukishima responded immediately. “Nothing will happen with me around.”

Then they were out of the building, down the steps, and walking towards what Kageyama assumed was his and Hinata’s dorm. The outside air seemed refreshing compared to the toxic atmosphere her felt around Suga and his lab team.

The college students around them were sitting and talking and laughing and Kageyama wished they would just… stop. The sounds, the movements, the smiles burned his ears to the point that he clasped his hands over them to block it all out. He felt hypersensitive; as if every thing and every one was touching and looking and talking at him all at the same time. His cheeks felt flushed where his palms touched them, and the world started to twist and turn until Kageyama felt like he was stumbling over every step he took. The headache he’d woken up with on the laboratory floor came back full force, so he just… stopped.

Nothing felt right. This world he’d woken up in, tired and without memories of the past, was Hell. And the only thing that felt right was Hinata. It just didn’t make sense. Kageyama was lost and missing a part of himself, that much he knew for certain. He just couldn’t pinpoint what exactly that was.  
______________________________________________________________________________

Tsukishima didn’t know what to do, which happened a lot more often than his friends believed. This time, however, not knowing what to do could permanently harm his best friend forever. It was a responsibility he wasn’t sure if he could handle, but with the help of their other friends, it would become a lot more manageable.

Now all he had to do was not strangle Hinata who hadn’t paused his ceaseless chatter since they’d left KarasunoTech. At this rate, his ears would fall off before the end of the month. He chuckled darkly at that; he wouldn’t have to listen to Hinata then and he’d finally get a break. (If Kei thought Kagehina blabbering on was bad, this was ten, no twenty, times worse with that higher pitched voice and constant enthusiasm Hinata had.)

Tsukishima turned to ask Kageyama how he was holding up with Hinata’s chatter, but stopped short once he saw what was happening. Dread filled his stomach as he stared upon the curled up body of Kageyama on the ground, head tucked between his legs and hands clenched tightly around his ears. He was completely still, not even a single twitch from his limbs. This could only be one thing and Tsukishima wasn’t sure how to fix this, but he knew someone that could.

“Kei?” Oh…. oh. Hinata was still here, his voice sounding small and afraid. What was he going to do? If Hinata knew what was happening, who knew what could happen.

Tsukishima turned around with a smile painted onto his face as he pulled out his wallet. Handing Hinata a twenty, he said, ”Go buy something from that ice cream shop over there, okay? And make sure to get something for Kageyama too. I think he’s still a bit tired.”

Hinata tried to peer over his shoulder at said fatigued man, but Tsukishima moved his body over to block the ginger’s view. Hinata’s eyes widened as he stuck out his lower lip in a pout. “I can help him too!”

Kei’s fake grin broke into a softer, warmer smile. “That’s okay,” he said gently. “I’ll just watch to make sure he doesn’t fall asleep out here. You’ll be back in no time.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Then Hinata skipped off (just like Kagehina…) and joined the end of the very long line. That should probably keep him busy for a good fifteen minutes. Hopefully.

Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out his phone and typed in the first number he thought might work. His call was answered almost immediately. “Yo! Tsukishima! I thought you hated calling people. Are you calling to finally confess your feelings to me?” Tsukishima could just imagine the stupid, dopey grin on the other’s face.

“This isn’t the time for messing around. I think my friemnd is having a panic attack and I need you here pronto.” Tsukishima quickly rattled off the street address. “Can you help me?”

The other side of the line immediately became fuzzy and filled with the sound of someone breathing heavier than before. “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” the other man huffed out between breaths. “Just whatever you do, don’t move or touch them, okay?”

“Got it,” Tsukishima immediately answered, moving closer to Kageyama as to block him off from people walking by. Thankfully, there wasn’t many people on this side of the street due to the popular ice cream shop across the way. “Please get here quickly. I… I’m worried and I don’t know what to do.”

In all his life, Kei Tsukishima had never admitted to anyone that he didn’t know how to fix a situation and this person clearly picked up on it quickly as their breathing became strained as they quickly responded, “I be there in three,” and promptly hung up the phone.

Tsukishima sat down beside Kageyama, careful to make sure he wouldn’t bump into him, and waited. There wasn’t anything else he could do besides that as he waited for his savior.

After a few minutes of only the sound of cars whizzing by and the occasional laugh coming from the ice cream shop, he heard the familiar squeak of volleyball shoes. His head shot up immediately. “Kuroo.”

“Kei!” Kuroo wheezed back. “Where are they?”

Tsukishima’s hand gestured shakily towards where Kageyama was curled up. (When had his hand started shaking? And were those tears streaming down his face? He didn’t remember starting to cry either.)

Kuroo touched Tsukishima’s shoulder for a second. “It’s going to be okay. Just take a deep breath.” He did just that. “Now, who am I helping here?”

“It’s Kagehina.”

“What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean, I know. It's a bad cliffhanger, but I'll try to get the next chapter up in a week. It just depends on how much homework I have for how quickly I can get the chapter done.
> 
> Question of the chapter: Favorite drink (like, in general)
> 
> My favorite drink is this grape flavored water and it's the only thing I drink, I swear. Although, all my friends say it smells like cough medicine, but I swear it's good.
> 
> Thanks for everyone who's commented, given kudos, subscribed, and read the story so far! I wasn't sure how this story idea would go, but I'm happy with the feedback so far. I'd love to hear from you guys in the comments too! Whether it's just to talk about your day or this story, I'll try to reply as quick as possible.
> 
> See you guys next chapter! I hope you guys have a frickin' fantabulous week!


	4. Kuroo Tetsuro: The Savior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Kageyama lifted his head and gazed up at him with those teary eyes that were just like Kagehina’s, Kuroo almost broke down. But he couldn’t; if being a psychology major had taught him anything about helping someone that was having a panic attack it’s that one of the worst things he could do was to panic himself. So, he put on a soft smile and made sure to keep his voice low and soothing when he talked.
> 
> “Everything hurts,” the raven haired man whispered back, voice hoarse as if from disuse. “The lights, the people, the noises. It’s…” He let out a whimper. “It’s too much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! It's early! Like, earlier than I thought it would be! I actually did this chapter in a week, so sweet. I can't promise it will always be this early, but I hope you guys are enjoying the storyline so far and the pace of it.
> 
> Without further ado, Enjoy the chapter!

Tsukishima quickly explained the past few hours of events to Kuroo, hands flying through the air with every gesture to speed things along. During this all, Kuroo was nodding his head as he dug into his drawstring bag and pulled out a small, light blue blanket. Carefully treading over to where Kageyama was still curled into a ball, Kuroo placed the blanket gently around the man’s shoulders and sat down right next to him.

“I think I can help him now,” Kuroo spoke softly, and Tsukishima immediately shut up. He turned back to Kageyama. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

When Kageyama lifted his head and gazed up at him with those teary eyes that were just like Kagehina’s, Kuroo almost broke down. But he couldn’t; if being a psychology major had taught him anything about helping someone that was having a panic attack it’s that one of the worst things he could do was to panic himself. So, he put on a soft smile and made sure to keep his voice low and soothing when he talked.

“Everything hurts,” the raven haired man whispered back, voice hoarse as if from disuse. “The lights, the people, the noises. It’s…” He let out a whimper. “It’s too much.”

Okay, so it was sensory issues that had caused this breakdown to happen. With everything that Tsukishima explained in that limited amount of time to Kuroo, it made sense. While Kageyama was probably the half that physically looked more like Kagehina, mentally he was most likely a more repressed personality of the original man. It’s no surprise that creating a whole person’s mental stability with the limited amount of personality obtained from Kagehina would have had this big of a backlash, and the symptoms could get worse over time. It was… frightening to say the least.

But Kuroo could do this. He could help his friend out because that’s what Kageyama had become. Another friend to watch out for and help in any way he could.

“Okay, I need you to pull the blanket over your head,” Kuroo instructed. When Kageyama looked up at him with a slightly questioning look, he answered, ”It’s to block out all the extra stimuli that’s causing your body to shut down. I promise this will help you, okay?”

Kageyama paused for a moment, stroked the blanket wrapped tightly around him, and then pulled it over his head, burrowing into it as much as he could. “Okay,” he called out, muffled by the fabric surrounding his face. “What next?”

“I need you to answer a few questions for me. Is that all right?” A quick up and down movement ensued the question from under the blanket. Kuroo took that as a yes. “Simple yes or no answers will work if it hurts to talk or move. Ok, let’s start. Does the blanket you’re holding right now hurt in any way?”

“Yes.”

“Is it major pain?”

“No.”

“Does it just sting because of how unused to the feeling?”

Kageyama was silent for a second before he answered, “I think so.”

Ok, new objects and feelings were bad. This could be a slight problem. “Does sunlight hurt?”

“No.”

“Does the ground hurt?”

“No.”

“Do the sounds hurt to listen to?”

“Yes.”

Kuroo lowered his voice a bit more at that. “On a scale of one to ten, how much does it hurt your ears with one being not at all and ten being someone screeching constantly right next to you?”

“Nine.”

Well, crap. Kuroo had to move them into a quieter setting quickly or risk their mental state deteriorating at a faster rate than it already was with Kageyama being outside. But where to move them to? There closest building was the packed ice cream shop, which was just a terrible idea. The closest housing complex was the fraternity of Phi Delta, which was also a terrible idea when Kuroo took into account the yelling and loud music thumping dully from the house. Which left the other closest housing complex; the Samuel Hank dorm building. Racking his brain to remember if any of his and Kagehina’s friends lived in the dorm, because it was important that Kageyama’s mental state was at least familiar with someone else they knew, he finally remembered who it was that lived there. But was it worth the risk?

Kageyama let out another shuddering breath, his body convulsing along with the movement, and Kuroo knew he needed to make a decision quickly or risk permanent damage to his friend. He turned towards Tsukishima who had silently watched this exchange, his face growing paler by the second. “We need to go now.”

Lines appeared on Tsukishima’s face as he scrunched up his forehead in worry. “What? Why? What’s wrong with Kageyama?”

“I don’t have time to explain,” Kuroo declared. He reached down and gently picked Kageyama up bridal style, humming softly under his breath to relax the man who had gone tense as soon as his hands had touched his legs. “I’m taking him over to the Hank building, room 203. Get his other half and come along, but don’t tell him what’s happening. Tell him that Kageyama is just super tired and needs to sleep, so he needs to keep quiet no matter what. I think it’s okay if Hinata does touch him because he’s Kageyama’s other half, but we need to make sure that no one else does touch him if we can avoid it. I’m not sure if Kageyama’s mental state can take this overload of information for much longer. Does this make sense?”

“I, uh, yes,” Tsukishima stuttered out. He looked so lost and scared right now, but Kuroo couldn’t take the time to comfort him yet. Kagehina’s survival was at stake.

“Good. Wait for Hinata to come back from the ice cream shop and then join us at room 203 at Hank building. Okay?”

“Okay.”

And then Kuroo was off, jogging as fast as he could to keep jostling Kageyama’s body to a minimum. The man said nothing after that, entire body rigid with what Kuroo assumed was pain. When Kageyama began to shake uncontrollably, he picked up his pace, panic finally flooding into his system as the implications of what could happen finally clarified for him. His friend could die and no one would know. There would be no recognizable body, only two bodies that looked similar to Kagehina, but weren’t him. He’d lose one of his best friends and if that thought wasn’t the most terrifying thing, Kuroo wasn’t sure what was.

His feet clacked loudly on the tile floor as he shot past someone opening the door frantically once they saw him running full speed towards them. Finding the staircase, he flung it open and took the stairs as quick as his feet could take them. Room 203 finally loomed in front of Kuroo and he knocked hard on the oak door.

“I’ll be there in a minute!” someone called out from behind the door.

“This can’t wait a minute, Tooru! I need in now!” Kuroo called back urgently. The door immediately opened up after that, a worried looking man with messy, fluffy brown hair and an alien t-shirt and sweatpants appearing on the other side. His glasses were slightly skewed to the side as if he’d put them on in a rush.

Kuroo rushed inside, ignoring the flustered Iwaizumi pulling on his clothes and immediately placing Kageyama on Oikawa’s space themed bed. The raven haired man’s body immediately relaxed, the soft sound of breathing filling the air.

“Uh, Kuroo I know you like taking care of strays, but this is a bit too much,” Oikawa called out as Kuroo sighed at the sleeping boy and sat on the edge of the bed, hands covering his face.

“It’s not a stray,” Kuroo retorted. “It’s Kagehina.” At the confused expressions he got from both Oikawa and Iwaizumi, he continued, “They’ve been split into two people by KarasunoTech.”

Oikawa’s eyes immediately lit up as soon as he said KarasunoTech. “Wait, the KarasunoTech whose technology brings science fiction to life?!”

“The very same.”

Oikawa squealed in excitement for a second, and then the situation finally seemed to click and has smile disappeared into a look of horror. “They split up my precious Kagehina!” After a few more seconds of silence and looking around the room, Oikawa asked a pretty reasonable question for someone who’d just learned one of his friend’s no longer technically existed. “Where’s the other half?”

“Uh, well…” Kuroo trailed off. Where was Tsukishima and Hinata? They should have been here by now, unless the ice cream line had been a lot longer than he’d thought it was.

The door, which Oikawa had forgotten to close all the way, banged open and a little orange haired man bounded in excitedly, an ice cream cone in each hand. “Look, Oikawa!” he shouted out. “I’ve got two ice cream cones! Isn’t that great?”

“Uh… Do I know you?” Oikawa questioned.

Hinata’s face fell instantly. “It’s Hinata of course! Gosh, you’re just like Kags sometimes…” His nose scrunched in concern. “Where is Kags by the way? I thought you said Kags would be here, Tsukishima. Did you lie to me?” He turned to Kei, his lip already stuck out in a full on pout.

Tsukishima looked lost for a second, unsure of how to answer Hinata. Kuroo decided to bail him out on this one. “He’s sleeping on the bed, so we have to keep quiet, okay?”

Hinata immediately clapped his hand over his mouth. “Okay,” he whispered back loud, but not as loud as he’d been before. “I’ll just check on him, if that’s ok.”

Tsukishima looked about to stop him, but Kuroo cut him off before he had the chance to even utter a sound. “I think that’s the best thing you could do right now.” Kuroo let out one of his few genuine smiles. “That’s really sweet of you to offer. You can head on back. I’ll just put your ice cream in the freezer.”

Hinata immediately handed off his cones to Kuroo, sprinting back to where the bed was in the corner of the dorm. He watched Hinata lift the corner of the bedspread and wiggle right next to Kageyama, hands snaking around the raven haired man’s waist to pull him closer.

A broken sigh filled the air. “So that’s Kagehina now, huh?” Oikawa’s voice sounded so defeated that Kuroo’s head immediately shot to look at the other man. He had tears dripping down his face, yet a soft smile still graced his lips. What was going through Oikawa’s head right now as he stared at the remnants of one of his best friends?

Kuroo hadn’t realized how important Kagehina had been in their lives until he was gone and replaced by two strangers; one of which had mental problems with too much stimuli and the other remembered so much, but knew so little. Which was worse? His friend not knowing him and in pain or his friend remembering the important details of you, but not the little things that matter? Kuroo didn’t have to choose because both situations were happening now and it hurt. He just wanted his friend back. He just wanted Kagehina back. Was that too much to ask for?

____________________________________________________________________________

Kageyama no longer felt like the world was trying to burn him alive. Instead, he felt a warmth wrapped around his waist, fluffy hair tickling the tip of his ear and the feeling of someone breathing evenly on his neck. And then the breath moved as lips ghosted over his neck, the person behind him muttering something in their sleep as they snuggled closer.

His breath hitched as he felt something harder press into the back of him, and then the person moved again and Kageyama realized it was only a shoe, most likely left on the bed from before he’d crashed on it. He reached his hand behind him, grasping the shoe as he tossed it off the bed so it wasn’t digging into his back anymore.

With the object gone, the man, or at least Kageyama assumed it was a man, sidled closer, inhaling deeply into Kageyama’s hair. This felt familiar. This felt… right. But he couldn’t recall ever having a memory similar to this feeling in even the slightest.

Kageyama carefully twisted around until he faced the smaller man, wrapping his own arms around the other’s waist. His eyelids became heavier and heavier until he could no longer keep them open and instead felt himself drifting off into the clutches of sleep.

This… this love was foreign and familiar at the same time. If only Kageyama could put his finger on it… If only he could stay awake enough to think this through. But he had already drifted off, dreams of a ginger haired man haunting his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question of the chapter: Favorite book series?
> 
> My answer: I love any book by Sarah J. Maas so I'm gonna count both of her series as my favorites. Check her out if you've never heard of her. She writes her characters so beautiful and creatively with amazing twists and turns in her plots.
> 
> Thanks for the reads, comments, kudos, and subscribes! I love you guys so much and I hope you continue to love this story as much as I love writing it! See ya next chapter and have a bloody fantastic week!


	5. Tendou Satori: The Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I always forget Kagehina has a brother,” Tsukishima responded, his voice trailing off at the end. The man who was Kagehina’s brother was quiet and never seemed to be around when Tsukishima was. Whether that was by chance or on purpose, he’d yet to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit late, but I promise I didn't forget about you guys!! I started to get some art ready to post with the concept of what Kagehina looked like, but I only got one finished, so it will be in the end notes if you want to see my first concept design of Kagehina.
> 
> Without further ado, Enjoy the Chapter!

For once in his life, Tsukishima had to admit that Kuroo had come up with a fantastic idea. “Let’s call a meeting into order of every one of Kagehina’s friends. They need to know what’s happening and be prepared for any possibility of danger to them. Anyways, it’s only fair they don’t find out in the shocking ways we did.” Kuroo smile drooped for a moment. “It’s how Kagehina would have wanted it anyways.”

“So who do we call?” Oikawa questioned. “Kagehina was friends with practically everyone. Who do we narrow this meeting down to?”

Kuroo already had his phone out and was adding numbers into a new chat, fingers flying to write out a quick explanation into text form. Tsukishima already had a faint idea who he was sending the text out to. “There’s about ten people I can think of right now who will be affected greatly, including Kagehina’s brother, of course.”

“I always forget Kagehina has a brother,” Tsukishima responded, his voice trailing off at the end. The man who was Kagehina’s brother was quiet and never seemed to be around when Tsukishima was. Whether that was by chance or on purpose, he’d yet to find out.

“It’s no wonder why,” Kuroo said. “He’s only Kagehina’s half-brother. They have different fathers, so they don’t share a last name.”

Oh, that made more sense. Tsukishima’s only been to his father’s house because Kagehina’s mother had divorced and left both sides, so his brother really had no reason to go to his house. But where was his brother anyways?

______________________________________________________________________________

He hadn’t seen his brother, Kagehina, in a few months since they’d fought, yet there was Kagehina’s name flashing on his phone along with the words, ‘Incoming Call’.

He picked it up and flipped it open, placing the phone right next to his ear. “Hello?”

“Tendou! I’m surprised you picked up!” The man’s voice on the other side was not Kagehina. What the heck was happening?

“Why do you have my brother’s phone?” Tendou couldn’t keep the suspicion out of his voice as he sneered those words. Nobody messed with his little brother, even when they were in the middle of a fight. Especially if they were in the middle of a fight. If something happened to Kagehina…

“This is Kuroo Tetsurou, one of Kagehina’s friends. I was wondering if you could swing by the Hank building on campus, room 203.” The man, Kuroo, paused for a second as if debating how to say that next piece of information. “Something happened to Kagehina.”

Tendou was out of the door in a second, phone already closed up and in his pocket as he sprinted towards where his beloved brother was. He left Kagehina alone for two months and this is what happens. Knowing his idiot brother, he probably got caught up in a gang or something while trying to make friends and got stabbed for his efforts. Yeah, that was totally something Kagehina would do. Or maybe he’s just really hungover and nobody else can get him to his dorm at the moment because they’re all drunk too. But that didn’t make sense. The friend that had called sounded perfectly sober to him. Maybe he knocked someone up. Tendou blanched at the thought before remembering that Kagehina was the most asexual person he’d ever met, never once showing interest for anyone else in a romantic or sexual way.

“Tendou, where are you going?” his boyfriend asked from right beside him, keeping pace easily, even at this breakneck sprint, without breaking a sweat.

“Ushijima,” Tendou wheezed out. “Brother. Something happened. Have to. Go see him.” He huffed this out between breaths, trying not to fall over with how awkwardly he ran as his neck twisted to gaze at the man beside him.

Ushijima’s head tilted to the side as he stared at Tendou, a silent question in his eyes. Slowing down, he turned towards his boyfriend, eyes rolling with affection. “Idiot, you’re always asking for permission. You should know by now that I don’t mind you coming with me.”

“But I’m the reason you fought with your brother,” Ushijima responded. “I’m not sure I should be there if Kagehina still hates me.”

“It was one mishap. How were you supposed to know it was Kagehina’s favorite shirt that you stole?” Tendou said exasperatedly.

“I’m… not entirely sure.”

And that was that. They continued on their run in silence, feet picking up speed after they stopped talking. The buildings passed by in a blur of lights and darks, Tendou’s eyes flitting too quickly from one object to the next to truly capture any of the details.

The Hank dorm building looms up ahead, a group of college students crowding the entrance. “What the h-”

“Oi! I didn’t think you’d come, Tendou, with your head so far up your a-”

“Bokuto,” Tendou interrupted smoothly. “I don’t believe you want to finish that sentence. Now, I’m going to give you a minute to think about this and change your greeting. Okay?” He tilted his head at an awkward angle, blank stare boring into the man’s eyes.

Bokuto shivered violently. “I, uh, good afternoon Tendou! Lovely seeing you and Ushijima here to check up on your brother! Out of curiosity, do you know what’s happening?”

Tendou’s blank face soured at that. “If I knew what was happening, I wouldn’t be here, would I?” he snapped back. “My brother probably just did something stupid again, knowing his history. I just wish I could go six months without my idiotic brother ending up in the hospital because he tried parkour or some other crap.”

By the time he’d finished his little monologue, everyone had turned away and entered the building, leaving Tendou alone with an uneasy looking Bokuto and his ever silent boyfriend. Bokuto looked around, saw everyone had fled, and quickly turned around to join them. The dorm building’s front doors softly clicked shut behind the eccentric man.

“We should go in,” Ushijima spoke up from behind Tendou.

“Yeah, of course,” he muttered. So what if his feet sounded a bit louder on the tile floors of the dorms? It wasn’t as if he was mad or anything that everybody left and didn’t listen. It was his stupid brother’s fault after all and if his friends couldn’t see that, well, that was their issue not his.

Room 203 loomed in front of Tendou in no time. He knocked in three quick successions, then stepped back, wringing his hands once before shoving them into the pockets of his jeans. After a minute with no response, besides whispering behind the door (those jerks), he tried knocking again, adding a loud, “Hello?” to the end of it.

“Are you going to be nice now?” someone else yelled from the other side of the door.

Tendou’s eyes narrowed in irritation at that. What did they mean was he going to be nice now? Kagehina was his brother and he could say whatever the heck he wanted about his stupid behavior. But he guessed…. His friends didn’t see it that way. Or if they did, they wouldn’t be reacting like this.

“Mmmm I don’t know. How would you define nice?” Tendou questioned. Ushijima sent him a warning look, but he ignored it and continued on. “Because I don’t think it’s very nice for you to keep me out so how can you call me out on not being nice?”

Tendou swore he heard crickets in the silence that followed his sentence as the door slowly creaked open for him and Ushijima to enter. He let himself have a mini victory smirk as they walked into the dorm room, but it slowly died once he noticed the somber exchange of looks in the room.

Ten of what Tendou assumed were Kagehina’s friends all stood awkwardly around the room, a curtain blocking off the beds in the back. None of them seemed to want to sit down, so Tendou took the initiative and plopped down in the middle of the room, legs criss-crossed as he leaned back on his hands.

“So,” he drawled, “Anyone want to explain why we’ve all been called here?”

The blond haired man nearest to the curtain cleared his throat, bringing everyone’s attention to him. He seemed to wilt under the gazes for a second until another man with messy, black hair laid a hand on his shoulder, whispering something into his ear that had his resolve hardening.

“Well, for those of you who don’t know, I’m Tsukishima Kei. Everyone who’s been invited here has been considered close to Kagehina and people that me and Kuroo,” he gestured to the man with black hair beside him, “determined that need to be here at this meeting. This meeting is about Kagehina’s wellbeing and what needs to be done to keep it safe.”

Whispers broke out at this time and Tsukishima hesitated in his explanation, hands raised as if he wanted to stop them from talking, but wasn’t sure how to. Tendou didn’t want to feel pity for the man because he didn’t. He just wanted to hear what had happened to Kagehina at this rate. Why couldn’t everyone just shut up for a minute like they had been doing earlier?

“Could we listen, please?” Ushijima’s deep voice rumbled throughout the room, silencing everyone immediately. “Thank you. Tsukishima, could you continue?”

Tsukishima perked up. “Uh, gladly.” He cleared his throat once again. “I’m going to be blunt about this: Kagehina is gone. But-” Chaos ensued this statement, cutting Tsukishima off once again. “BUT!” he shouted out, quieting the rowdy crowd. “He’s not dead and he hasn’t run away. He’s behind the curtain sleeping. Or, well, they are. It’s complicated and I think Kuroo could explain the science behind it better.”

The black haired man, Kuroo, stepped forward. “I’m assuming everyone knows the research company of KarasunoTech.” Everyone nodded their heads to this, including Tendou. Who hadn’t heard of KarasunoTech and their awe inspiring products? It was like asking if everyone knew what Google was; a question used to clarify what the topic was. But what did KarasunoTech have to do with Kagehina?

“Kagehina signed up for one of their programs, the LeftRight Split, but he didn’t read the disclaimers well. What the program tests is whether one person can be split into two new people with similar aspects of the original person. It was successful and now Kageyama and Hinata are asleep in the back. We’ve called this meeting today to talk about the rules for handling Kageyama and Hinata until they can fix the machine- which broke before they could put them back together- in a month’s time.

“Unfortunately, the program wasn’t as successful as the scientists believe it to be. While Hinata doesn’t seem to have any problems so far, Kageyama’s mental state…. Let’s just say it isn’t the best at the moment. Since neither of them remember much, we need to come up with some simple rules of what we can and can’t do, can and can’t say. Keeping Kageyama and Hinata safe is our number one priority. Everyone understand?”

“This is just a typical Kagehina stunt.” Everyone turned at the angry tone in Tendou’s voice, but he couldn’t care less. “He only looks out for himself and what he can get out of something instead of caring about others.” He turned his glare towards Tsukishima. “Am I right that Kagehina did this for money just to buy something he doesn’t need?”

Tsukishima hesitated a second before answering, “He just wanted new volleyball shoes.”

Tendou felt his blood boil as he stood up, arms stiff at his sides as he stomped towards the door. “I’m not staying for this ‘meeting’.” He held his hands up and made quotations as he said meeting. “I don’t need to hear any of this crap about how to help my brother. He should have thought about this before doing something as crazy as this. If he wanted my help, he would have thought about it before. I don’t care about Kagehina anymore. He’s just a nuisance to me.”

He slammed the door behind him, legs becoming heavier with each step he took away from where his brother lay in dorm 203. Or he guessed it was his brothers now, but that didn’t sound right. None of this sounded right.

Another few steps and he was at the stairwell, heart tugging back to that small dorm until his breathing felt labored and he had to sit down for a second. Huddled in the corner of the stairwell, between the first and second landing, he let out a sigh, trying his hardest to hold back the pounding in his eyes, but failing miserably.

Why his brother had done something so stupid was beyond Tendou. He would never show it, but losing Kagehina, even if it was only temporary, stung and frightened him. Why? Did he not care what happened to him? Did he not care that others cared for him?

The tears felt bitter and sour as they dripped onto his knees that he’d tucked closely into his chest. Oh. It had been a while since he’d cried like this. Big, heavy tears that wouldn’t stop no matter how many times he pushed the balls of of his palms into his eyes. Snot trying to escape no matter how many times he sniffed. His breath hiccuped in fits as he tried to calm himself down. But he couldn’t.

Kagehina was gone and there was nothing he could do about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Just click on any of the end notes if you want to see the Kagehina design concept Question of the chapter: Do you have any irrational fears? I myself am afraid of the dark and complete silence together, but I'm not entirely sure why. I think it's because I'm afraid something will grab me like in horror movies, but I don't even watch those so I don't know where those thoughts come from... On a brighter note, another reason I was a bit late was because I've been kind of busy texting this amazing guy I recently met. He's so nice and sweet, so fingers crossed that everything there goes well!!! I hope you guys have a fantabulous week!!!!!](https://www.instagram.com/p/BfZuN_RAlUf/)


	6. Hinata Shoyou: The Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What did the others think of this situation? Were they scared like Tsukishima? Braving through it like Kuroo? Angry like Tendou? Saddened and broken by it like Oikawa? Or were they just too shocked to even feel anything yet? It was something Tsukishima hoped to find out and try to help them through as they helped him through it too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bit later than a week, but at least it's not over two weeks of a wait this time? (I'm a terrible person I know XD) I tried to get it done earlier this week, but school work just piled up until I basically slept like a dead person each night and woke up at 6 am even more dead. Ah well, such is the life of a high school student.
> 
> I will warn that my goals in writing this story aren't as fluff based as the last one, but I will promise now that I have certain lines that I won't cross to make my characters do in this story. If you wanna see some of them, look at the end notes at the end of the chapter.
> 
> I also want to take a quick second to thank everyone that's read/reading the story, kudoing, commenting, subscribing, and just being there in general! I love writing this story and I hope you guys continue to enjoy reading it as we go through this journey together!
> 
> Without further ado, Enjoy the chapter!

The room was quiet as the door slammed behind Tendou, nobody daring to make a sound until Ushijima cleared his throat and spoke up. “I apologize for his behavior. He does care for Kagehina, but he has… problems showing that he cares. I hope you’ll forgive his behavior and allow me to stay and take notes for him on this meeting.” He bowed low towards Tsukishima. “Please.”

Tsukishima was too taken back to do anything but dip his head slowly. Up, then down. He’d met Ushijima before through volleyball, but had never found the man to be this forward. It was strange. He’d thought Ushijima was rude and kept quiet because of it, but it was actually quite the opposite. Ushijima was thoughtful and kind, even if it didn’t seem outwardly so.

Ushijima bowed once again, then sat down. Tsukishima continued on, taking the meeting back over from Kuroo. “Ok, I think we can all agree that we need to keep Hinata and Kageyama together as much as possible. We could be wrong on this, but we think the effects could worsen the longer they’re apart, seeing how Kageyama seemed to get worse as Kuroo brought him here and Hinata stayed farther behind with me. So, if we ever find them apart, send a text in the group message I set up to bring you guys here. Any other rules you guys think we should have?”

Hitoka Yachi raised her hand, the only girl in the room. “I think we should remember not to mention the name Kagehina Yamata around them and that we don’t look at them with sadness or pity. It’s not what Kagehina would have wanted, after all. He would have wanted us to keep smiling and laughing with the new versions of him.” The little blond girl smiled softly, head tilted slightly in question.

“I agree,” spoke up Akaashi Keiji. “Kagehina never liked when we were sad and he’d always pester someone until they’d tell him what’s wrong so he could fix it.” He looked down at his lap for a second, wringing his hands. “It was nice.”

Silence overtook the room again, but it was one filled with content and thinking rather than one of a somber mood. What did the others think of this situation? Were they scared like Tsukishima? Braving through it like Kuroo? Angry like Tendou? Saddened and broken by it like Oikawa? Or were they just too shocked to even feel anything yet? It was something Tsukishima hoped to find out and try to help them through as they helped him through it too.

Over the course of the next few hours, many suggestions were made on how to regulate Kageyama and Hinata; some were vetoed immediately, like Bokuto’s suggestion to give them gps tags, while others became some of the base rules of helping them, such as Lev’s suggestion to always have a blanket in their backpacks in case Kageyama needed it. 

Tsukishima felt pleasantly happy as he looked down at their list of rules, satisfied with their progress. He felt that it was time the group met who they’d be protecting.

“So, who’s ready to meet Kageyama and Hinata?”  
______________________________________________________________________________

Hinata Shouyo felt tired. Well, maybe tired wasn’t the right word. Hinata felt more… exhausted than anything else. His body seemed to weigh into the sheets as he struggled to sit up, legs like lead and impossible to move. Well, Hinata guessed he didn’t have to move then; Kageyama was still asleep beside him and he could hear the discussion in the next room just fine.

He listened closely as a girl’s voice rose above the hum of chatter. “I think we should remember not to mention the name Kagehina Yamata around them and that we don’t look at them with sadness or pity. It’s not what Kagehina would have wanted, after all. He would have wanted us to keep smiling and laughing with the new versions of him.”

Huh? Did Hinata hear that right? Who was Kagehina Yamata? It sounded so familiar, yet….

“I agree,” someone else spoke up. “Kagehina never liked when we were sad and he’d always pester someone until they’d tell him what’s wrong so he could fix it.” It was silent for a second. “It was nice.”

What? Was… was Kagehina him? And Kageyama? Kage. Hina. Kagehina. It made sense, but how? Why?

“We all wish Kagehina was here, but it’s okay. He’s not gone completely and we need to realize that. We still have Hinata and Kageyama, so cheer up guys. Yeah?”

So what were Hinata’s memories? Were they not even his? Of course not, he chided himself. They were Kagehina’s memories and just because Hinata was half of him didn’t make the memories his. He was just a flimsy carbon copy, evident by how the bottom half of his body was now numb and wouldn’t move. Hinata was just like one of those cheap China made ripoffs that people didn’t love, but accepted because they weren’t rich enough to have the real thing.

Tears warbled on the edges of Hinata’s vision. But he wouldn’t cry for the sake of Kagehina’s friends. He had to be strong for them, and for Kageyama too, and try to be as happy as he could be. It would be okay; for both their sake and Kagehina’s friends.

He couldn’t let them know that he knew any of this. For now, he’d have to play the fool and go on as if he knew nothing of his shared life with Kageyama as Kagehina.

The dull hum of conversation continued on beyond the curtained doorway, but Hinata was too tired to care. Instead of listening into the conversation like he’d done earlier (in rather unfortunate timing if Hinata had anything to say about it), he burrowed back into the blankets, with only a slight groan of protest from Kageyama from the bit of cold air that sneaked in, and immediately felt sleep overtake him.  
___________________

Stark, white light lit up the insides of Hinata’s eyelids and he groaned as he felt his consciousness awaken. A second groan followed from beside him, deeper than Hinata’s. “S’too bright,” the voice muttered. “Can’t we just go back to sleep, Hina?”

“It’s not me, Bakageyama,” Hinata protested weakly. “I want to go back to sleep as much as you.” To emphasize his words, Hinata crawled on top of Kageyama and pulled the covers over their heads until the darkness enveloped them once again. They both sighed, glad for the lack of light as they snuggled closer and attempted to go back to sleep.

Of course it seemed as if sleep wasn’t in Hinata nor Kageyama’s near future as the blankets were immediately yanked off the two men causing a yelp to escape Hinata’s lips. Kageyama just turned over and yelled into the blanket for a second before falling silent and turning to glare at the offenders who’d brought the light back.

A pair of hands immediately went up in surrender, backing slowly away from the grouchy, raven haired teen. Hinata let his gaze drift up their hands, to their arms, torso, neck, until he gazed into the familiar face of Oikawa. Hinata felt his lips immediately twitch up into a smile as he moved to a sitting position.

“Tooru! I haven’t seen you in a few weeks!” Hinata chirped happily. “Not since you kicked me out because I accidentally destroyed your microwave.” He paused for a second, smile slipping from his face as he stared down at his hands curled into Kageyama’s hair. “You don’t still hate me for that, do you?” He gazed back up at Oikawa through his eyelashes.

And that’s the moment that Oikawa broke down. “I’m sorry,” he gasped out. There were already definitive tracks on his face from where his tears had started to fall. “I-I could never hate y-you…” His words trailed off into hiccups and sniffles as Iwaizumi stepped closer and wrapped an arm snugly around Oikawa’s shoulders.

Oikawa immediately responded by turning into Iwaizumi’s chest, his sobs muffled by the soft cashmere of his boyfriend’s sweater.

Hinata’s stomach twisted, claws creeping up his throat. What had been thinking by bringing up the past? And such a topic as that too? Of course Oikawa would feel bad that the last time he’d seen Kagehina was when he had kicked him out of his dorm, anger preceding any rational thought that he hadn’t even texted Kagehina sorry or anything for that matter.

But he couldn’t show he remembered any of that; He had to hide whatever pain remained of his own or Oikawa would just become more depressed. So he hid his feelings deep down and tilted his head slightly as he gazed at the sobbing Oikawa, lips and brow twisted in curiosity and worry.

“Why are you crying, Oikawa? I know you would never hate me. You just hold really really really long grudges.” Hinata lifted the corners of his mouth up until a huge smile filled up his face. “I’d hold a grudge against me too if someone had blown up my microwave with a poptart.”

Oikawa’s head shot up from where he’d left tear stains on Iwaizumi’s sweater. He sniffled once before asking in a timid voice, “So you don’t hate me for kicking you out and not texting you back? Because I’m super duper sorry about that and I’ll never ignore you again! I promise!”

Hinata flipped his legs over the side of the bed, the numbness he’d felt earlier faded enough that he felt safe enough to walk on them again, and walked slowly over to Oikawa. He looked so close to bursting into tears again as Hinata snaked his arms around the taller man’s waist and hugged him tightly. After a moment of what he could only assume was shock, Hinata felt Oikawa’s arms smashing him against his chest in what he could only describe as painful, yet comforting at the same time.

“Can’t! Breath!” Hinata gasped out.

Oikawa immediately let ago, an apologetic grin on his face. “Sorry, I’m just so happy you forgave me. Anyways, I’m like, the bipolar crybaby of the group. You never know how I’m going to react to something, but there’s usually tears.” He laughed softly at his own joke. “I don’t think I could live with myself if you were gone and I didn’t get this chance to apologize…”

The last part was said so softly, Hinata wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it or not. By the way Oikawa’s smile seemed to sad for a second before brightening up once again made him think it was the latter.

Hinata turned to look over his shoulder to see how Kageyama was reacting to all this only to find his counterpart once again asleep. He facepalmed at the sight. Taking a running start and then jumping onto the raven haired man, Hinata yelled out, “Kags! How can you sleep at a time like this?” Kageyama didn’t even stir.

Sighing irritatedly, Hinata turned around and looked what he was almost positive was Kuroo Tetsurou. “Do something, Kuroo!” he whined, bringing out his puppy dog eyes. “He never listens to me.”

Kuroo’s guffaws filled the room, followed tentatively by everyone else. Hinata smiled internally at the scene: Kuroo reprimanding Kageyama and threatening him with a bucket of water; Bokuto and Oikawa looking around for said bucket to fill with water; Yachi watching nervously with the tiniest smile on her face that meant she was happy; Akaashi and Iwaizumi wearing matching exasperated looks as they watched their boyfriends scurrying around like children; Tsukishima and Yamaguchi smiling happily at the chaos in the room; Ushijima leaning against the curtained door, silently watching the scene unfold with his ever stoic expression; and his other half, Kageyama, scowling with a betrayed furrow in his brow, his arms crossed tightly in front of his chest.

It was perfect. Everything was perfect and happy and nothing was out of place. It was as if everything had gone back to normal. Hinata hoped it would stay that way because if it didn’t… Well, some things were better left buried as they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, I guess I could have been nicer to my characters? But at least I won't cross these lines in this fanfiction:  
> 1\. No rape/non-con  
> 2\. No killing off characters  
> 3\. No torture of one character maiming another (fights between brothers do not apply to this rule)  
> 4\. No unnecessary description (Ex. His long, twirling, ebony colored hair strands seemed to flutter in the wind as he ran dashing onwards on top of his silky, kind, beautiful, white colored horse whose hoofs where... I think you get the picture.)  
> 5\. No unnecessary drama between people (You know the fics I'm talking about, where the best friends get into a stupid argument and then ten chapters later they're still fighting for no reason. It just doesn't make sense to me.)
> 
> Uh I think that's it? If there's any other rules you think I should add or things you want to see happen in the story, let me know in the comments down below! I make it a priority to answer every comment I can unless someone is reading through and comments on every chapter (which I love a lot, but my answers get a bit repetitive) and in that case I'll add a longer comment if I can onto the latest comment.
> 
> I hope you all have a super fantabulous week and I hope to see you guys next time! Cheers!


	7. Hinata and Kageyama: The Hopeful and the Damaged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kageyama scratched his head at that. Hinata was a weird guy for sure, but he’d never seemed that weird. Maybe it was just sleep deprivation? Yeah… that had to be it. Lack of sleep did weird things to people, especially Hinata.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I'm over my 2 weeks deadline -_-
> 
> Tennis started this week, so I'm not sure how consistent my updates will be from now on, but I promise I'm not abandoning this fic! It will probably just take a little over two weeks per chapter now, unless I can find the time to write it otherwise. I did write a slightly longer chapter this time as an apology though. Almost 2700 words! Woot!
> 
> Without further ado, Enjoy the chapter!

Hinata would never say he was a morning person (those who claimed that were obviously liars), yet he felt rejuvenated as he dressed for his first day of college. Sure, it was the middle of the semester, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be his first day. Well, his and Kageyama’s if the other man decided to get up anytime soon.

“Kags! If we don’t leave in the next ten minutes, we’ll be late for our first class!”

Kageyama grunted in response. “Art history can wait. Sleep is more important.”

“No. Get up.”

“...”

“Tobio!”

“But sleep,” Kageyama mumbled.

Hinata knew this could go either two ways: He could listen to Kageyama and leave him to sleep or….

Kageyama sat up, spluttering indignantly as water dripped from the tips of his black strands and onto his now soaking wet shirt. His eyelashes glittered in the bright light of their dorm room. Hinata couldn’t even be bothered to act offended by the glare Kageyama sent his way; he was just too gorgeous.

“What are you smiling at?!” Kageyama hissed. Hinata tried not to stare as the other man started to strip off his wet clothes and change into something drier for class. Well, try he did, yet failure was the outcome. He felt his cheeks warm up slightly in response.

“Uh, er, nothing,” Hinata choked out, too flustered to say much else.

Kageyama tsked in response, but said nothing else, the sound of an electric toothbrush filling the air instead. A few minutes later, Hinata finally picked up the courage to look over at Kageyama only to find him completely ready to go, school bag slung haphazardly over his left shoulder. “Ready?” he asked gruffly.

“Yup!” Hinata picked up his own bag, along with a sketching book and a pencil. This was going to be one heck of a long day, so he might as well try to get some sketching done in between classes and the like.

They set off from their dorm room, the morning air brisk at seven thirty in the morning. Gazing around, Hinata found there to be few people about at this time of the morning, despite how large the campus was. Not many people had eight o’clock classes, sure, but he would have assumed there to be more. The ones who were about the scattered paths of the university stayed to themselves for the most part, mouths yawning widely and cups of coffee held precariously in their hands.

Hinata wondered, was this how Kagehina had been? Wandering listlessly towards his morning class, sketchbook in one hand and a piping hot cup of coffee in the other? Wondering when he’d be able to nap next or write his next story? Looking for the perfect picture to sketch or the perfect person to profile?

His heart clenched painfully. He needed to stop thinking like this. It would only make the situation worse in the long run. This wasn’t his life to live, but he would make every second of it count. This was no longer Kagehina’s story. This was the story of Hinata and Kageyama and he wouldn’t waste a minute of it.  
____________________________________________________________________________

Kageyama felt strange as he sat at his eight o’clock class and attempted to listen to the lecture going on in front of him. Hinata sat to his right, swiftly sketching lines instead of writing down notes on the lecture. It was fascinating to watch Hinata draw, the muscles in left cheek twitching slightly as he concentrated on creating the perfect lines.

This continued on for about thirty minutes until the faint outline of a man’s face was left staring back out at them both, eyes half-lidded and smile a mix between a smirk and something quite endearing. Kageyama’s eyes widened in surprise. This man looked familiar to him, but he couldn’t pinpoint why. His shaggy hair hid his eyebrows and almost covered his eyes, their ends curling slightly up as if humid from the air. The man looked like… Kageyama.

His head throbbed at that thought, so he forgot it. Kageyama looked away, head clouding over the scene he’d just watched play out. He didn’t look over at Hinata again until class had ended and the other man’s notebook was out of sight. By the time he’d stood up, the memory had been wiped completely from his mind.

“I uh…” Kageyama looked over to Hinata as he started to speak. “I have class in the other direction, but your next class doesn’t start until twelve. Are you going to be okay?”

Kageyama scoffed at that. “Why wouldn’t I be okay? I brought my computer with me, so I’ll just sit on our usual cafe and write like I usually do.” He peered closely at Hinata. “Idiot. You’ve been acting weirdly since yesterday when we woke up in that lab. Is something wrong?”

Hinata flinched so quickly that Kageyama wasn’t even sure it happened. “Why would something be wrong? Nothing’s wrong. Is something wrong with you? Because only a person who think something is wrong would ask if something is wrong. Are you okay? I’m okay, but are you?” Hinata let out an off-key laugh, waving away Kageyama’s concerned gaze. “I’ve gotta go, but I’ll meet you at the cafe after class, okay? Okay!”

And then he was off running towards his drawing class, school bag flapping as he went. Kageyama scratched his head at that. Hinata was a weird guy for sure, but he’d never seemed that weird. Maybe it was just sleep deprivation? Yeah… that had to be it. Lack of sleep did weird things to people, especially Hinata.

Kageyama dismissed the issue immediately, too busy thinking about his writing project to give any more thought to the strange incident. Perhaps he’d give his next protagonist a scar right across his nose, a prosthetic right arm, and maybe a tuft of blue hair in the front? No, blue would be stupid. A tuft of white hair would look better. More manly. More along the looks of a leader…  
____________________________________________________________________________

Hinata thought he could manage two hours without being near Kageyama. He really did. Yet, when his legs started to fall asleep, he knew he’d been wrong. When the tips of his toes started to tingle, worry began to seep through his body. And when his legs lost feeling completely, Hinata knew he’d truly screwed up.

“That’s all for today.” Of course his teacher was done as soon as Hinata couldn’t move his legs. Perfect timing as usual Ms. Kiyoko, he thought wryly. “By Thursday, I’d like for everyone to be done with three figure drawings complete with at least three features clearly defined. This does not include features of the more…” Her nose wrinkled in distaste as she looked everyone in the eye. “Promiscuous sort. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Sensei,” the class iterated back, the voices blending together into one.

Ms. Kiyoko clapped her hands once at that. “Good. Now, get out of here and go get drawing! Oh! And Tanaka?”

The man next to Hinata immediately looked up at their teacher, eyes shining at being called by name. From the few conversations Hinata had had with the man, he did at least know that he adored Ms. Kiyoko with a burning passion and had even started a fan club for her which boasted a total of seventy five club members to date.

“Y-yes?” Tanaka choked out, too happy to say much else. His cheeks were already flushed red, although Hinata wasn’t sure if it was from fantasy, embarrassment, or a combination of both of those things. He shuddered to think what exactly that fantasy might entail.

“Try not to be too perverse, alright? There’s a definitive line between people watching and people stalking. Am I clear?”

The light faded out of Tanaka’s eyes as his head hung long at the comment. “Yes, Sensei. I don’t try to stalk people, though. I just hate to lose a perfect model…”

Ms. Kiyoko smiled softly at that. “I know. You have a keen eye for picking out people that fit your style of drawing quite well. However, I have already had a few complaints from the girls volleyball team that you keep showing up during their practices and drawing them without even saying a thing. It’s starting to scare them. I’ve tried telling them that your shaved head and piercings aren’t anything to be scared about, but they just won’t listen.” She shook her head, looking exasperated. “Just, try to be less scary? Or ask permission at the very least. Okay?”

“Okay, Sensei!” Tanaka shot up from his seat, smiling brightly at their teacher. “See ya in threeish days, Ms. Kiyoko! Unless, you decide to come to the Kiyoko Appreciation club which, as I’ve told you, meets every Tuesday-”

“Yes, yes,” Kiyoko interrupted with a scolding tone, yet a smile still curled at the tips of her lips. “I’ll see if I have the time, but I won’t promise anything.”

Tanaka let out a whoop of laughter, the door shutting loudly behind him. Hinata smiled at the exchange, heart aching at the sight. He wished Kageyama was here…

“Hinata? What are you still doing here?” Kiyoko’s face filled his vision. She’d moved while he’d been lost in thought and was now directly in front of him, peering closely at him with concern on her face. “Is something wrong?”

How much did she know? Did Tsukishima tell her what had happened or had Kuroo? Either way, Hinata wouldn’t be moving anytime soon without help and Kiyoko seemed to be the only option at the moment.

“I’m guessing Tsukishima has told you about the situation, since you’re not confused about who I am.” Hinata sighed at the shocked expression on his teacher’s face.

“But he said you didn’t remember anything-”

“I lied and played the fool,” Hinata cut in. “They’re all so worried about me that I didn’t want to add my knowledge of the situation to it. It… It’s better this way.” He took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he had to say next and the reaction that would come with it. “I didn’t tell him about the other issues I’m having either for the same reason. Currently, I can’t feel the bottom half of my body from my hips down. My body was created almost completely new by whatever energy or crap they used in that experiment that split up Kagehina. Without the sustained energy from the original body nearby, Kageyama’s body, my body begins to stop functioning. This is the worst it’s become so far, but if I don’t get to Kageyama soon… I’d rather not find out what happens. The same happens to Kageyama, except he has a completely new mental system. I believe I am lucky compared to him without me.”

Kiyoko was silent for a second, tears misting the corners of her eyes, before she finally spoke with a determined resolve. “What do I need to do?”

Relief crashed over Hinata. He knew his teacher was kind hearted, but he wasn’t sure if she’d say yes to something as crazy as this. He was glad she happened to be as she was. Kind and beautiful all in one as everyone else called her.

“Do you have a wheelchair or something? I’m not sure how else to transport me easily.”

Her eyes brightened. “Actually, I do! I bought one a while back to use as a reference in drawing, but lost the receipt after we finished using it. I placed it into the art supply room, so it should still be there unless someone took it…” Kiyoko’s voice trailed off as she opened the closet door. The sound of multiple pencils and paintbrushes clattering to the floor filled the air until Kiyoko finally walked out, a wheelchair held up in her hands. “Found it!”

She walked over and unfolded the wheelchair right next to Hinata. He tried to lift himself up onto his hands and scoot into the chair, but to no avail. His face puffed up in frustration. He couldn’t even do this right…

“Need help?” Kiyoko smiled down at him, hands held out towards him.

Hinata flushed in embarrassment. “Thanks,” he whispered out, taking her hands in his so she could lift him up and into the wheelchair.

“Ready?”

Hinata was about to respond when his torso began to tingle, the edges of his stomach beginning to numb. The same feeling nipped at the tips of his fingers like frost. The numbness was already starting to spread. The thought sickened him. What would happen if this continued? Hinata didn’t feel like finding out anytime soon. “Yes, and let’s hurry. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll last.”  
_____________________________

“Kageyama!”

Kageyama’s head immediately shot up, panic already clouding his eyes. His head had started to pound about an hour after Hinata had left him at the cafe and had recently accumulated into an almost full blown panic. His fingers had flung across the computer in front of him, but Kageyama had had no idea what he’d been writing. Every other part of his body had frozen in fear, the feeling of everyone staring at him submissing him into quietness.

When Hinata had appeared in a wheelchair, a somewhat familiar woman with long black hair and glasses pushing it from behind, he’d almost cried with relief. Almost. What stopped him was another type of fear crashing over him, this one bringing him to his feet as he rushed towards the orange haired man. Why was he in a wheelchair? What had gone wrong in the two hours they’d been apart?

“Hina! What’s wrong?! Are you alright?!” Kageyama’s questions became a force to be reckoned with as they never stopped for a second. Hinata looked nervous at that, sending a queasy glance towards the woman with him, before bringing his arms up to wrap around Kageyama’s waist.

“I’m alright,” he murmured, the words muffled by the cotton of Kageyama’s shirt. “My legs just fell asleep and wouldn’t wake up. My teacher, Ms. Kiyoko, thought a wheelchair would work best for the time being.” He smiled softly, the ends of his lips wobbling for a second before solidifying pointed up. “This is just a temporary thing, probably a side effect of the experiment we did yesterday. I’ll be fine.”

Kageyama’s face stiffened at that, lips turning downward into a scowl and brow burrowing deeply in anger. “Those bastards! I just. Ugh! If I could! I just want to punch them or something, you know? For hurting you in any way. For even touching you in the first place!”

“It’s okay, Kageyama! It’s not that big of a deal-”

“Like hell it isn’t that big of a deal! You’re not leaving my side for the rest of the day! Is that clear?”

Relief filled Hinata’s face. “Of course. I’ll stay by your side for as long as you want me to, Kags. I promise.”  
____________________________________________________________________________

Hinata snuggled into Kageyama’s side, the feelings in his legs mostly returned except for a slight numbness in his toes, something he didn’t think would be going away anytime soon. The blanket covering them was warm, its dark blue colors soothing and soft as they lay there wrapped around each other.

This feeling of want and love and being together was all Hinata could have wished for and more. It was all Kagehina had wished for and more. The feeling of butterflies in his stomach and his limbs tingling, not in numbness, but in anticipation left him feeling more alive than Hinata ever remembered Kagehina feeling like.

But was this wrong? To love the other half of himself so dearly when this wouldn’t last. When Kagehina wouldn’t last split apart like this. Was it so wrong to love something that you’re going to have to let go?

Hinata’s arms tightened around Kageyama’s waist. He didn’t know. And he didn’t want to find out either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, the ending notes. I'm probably just going to ramble about my life, so you can leave if you're here just for any story updates or mentions or whatever.
> 
> So tomorrow I'm going to an awards ceremony for a poetry contest I got silver in! My family and I are driving down to the university that had the contest and I get to do a writing workshop and everything! I'm so excited about it and I hope I get to meet a lot of new people through it too! I'll also get to read some of the other winners' works which I'm super excited about too! If you guys want to read the poems that won, just comment that below and I'll be sure to post the poems back in a response.
> 
> I also have tennis season that started last Monday and I'm really excited for that! I've been playing since fourth grade and I really do love playing it. Sadly, I can't write as much during season, but it definitely gives me time to think up more awesome ideas and twists to put in my stories for you guys. I'm hoping to play doubles this year with a senior friend of mine, but I'll just have to see where my coach puts me.
> 
> Question of the chapter: Favorite hobby?
> 
> I don't think I've asked this question yet and my two paragraphs above kinda explain mine a bit. I'm curious to hear what your guys's hobbies are though! Be sure to comment below! I try my best to respond to every comment in about a day's time from when it's first posted.
> 
> Thanks so much to everyone who's given this story kudos, who's subscribed and/or commented to it, and to everyone who's read this story! Your guys are the reason I keep on writing and I hope my story makes you as happy reading it as it does when I write it.
> 
> I hope you guys have a bloody fantastic week and a happy Saint Patrick's Day!


	8. Kagehina and Tendou: The Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A flashback to Tendou's and Kagehina's past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I totally planned on moving forward with the timeline of the story, but then I started writing the chapter and it came out totally different. So instead of some more Hinata and Kageyama interaction, I present you with the backstory on Tendou and Kagehina's relationship! It's uh, I feel like it's a bit messily put in there, but it felt so right to add it into the story now seeing as how I'm bringing Tendou back into the main timeline soon.
> 
> Without further ado, Enjoy the chapter!

“Tori! Tori! Let’s play volleyball today, okay?” Kagehina grinned up at Tendou, his two front teeth missing and leaving a considerable gap that others called cute, but Tendou just found creepy. His brother had been bugging him all week, asking him to play volleyball with him, to let him toss to Tendou just once. He said no everytime and Kagehina would ask again the next day, continuing the cycle over and over again until… Until today when he couldn’t take it anymore. Why was this kid so annoying?

“Fine,” he spat out. “But just until the rest of my team shows up, okay? I can’t have my nuisance of a brother messing up our practice. We have a tournament coming up and we can’t lose a minute of time!”

Kagehina’s face lit up with excitement, and Tendou could do nothing as he felt his heart squeeze in contrast to the scowl on his face. He wanted to hate this kid. He wanted to hate the reason why his parents were divorced. He wanted to hate the smiling face that destroyed whatever happy childhood he could have had. And yet… He didn’t.

Whenever this kid’s face scrunched up into a smile or twisted downwards in frustration or pouted when things didn’t go his way, Tendou thought it was fascinating. Every little twitch or change that happened to Kagehina, he would watch rapidly even as he appeared disinterested.

The fact that Kagehina was the spitting image of their shared mother only added to his fascination. From his crimson hair color down to his freckled toes, he was the spitting image of the woman who’d given birth to him, left their family for another, and then died shortly after from a car crash. Tendou didn’t remember much about her, except for that lavender scent that always seemed to surround her no matter where she went.

It was the same scent that surrounded Kagehina as he set ball after ball to a somewhat begrudging Tendou, the child’s face lit up in pure ecstasy.

Was this all it would take to make him smile? A few tosses of the volleyball and Kagehina acted more lively than Tendou had every seen him before. He wondered if this sport felt like home to Kagehina as much as it did to himself. An escape from what Tendou’s reality truly was: a father masking his sadness with booze and forgetting his only child as he drank the night away and slept through the day.

Perhaps that was why Tendou was so obsessed with his half-brother. Of course, every time he said they were only half brothers, Kagehina would puff up his cheeks and lips into a pout and shout at the top of his tiny lungs that they weren’t half brothers, but step brothers and that it was a butt load of a difference.

But Tendou didn’t see them as half-brothers or even step-brothers. No, he saw them as true brothers and he would protect Kagehina for as long as he could.  
____________________________________________________________________________

 

Kagehina slammed into the locker, his whole body jarred by the impact. Tendou’s vision filled with red as he watched his little brother crying on the floor of the locker room, one hand cupping his bloody nose and the other held up in a weak defense towards the two middle school boys above him. Tears streamed down his face and left tracks in the dried blood that covered his face from his broken nose.

“Please,” he croaked out. “I didn’t do anything wrong. Why is this happening to me?”

Tendou wanted to help him, but his arms were held tightly behind his back by a few of the other guys on the team, their grips tightening each time he strained against them towards his brother.

“Let. Me. Go.” Each word left his mouth as an order, his tone menacing and leaving little room for saying no.

His teammates contemplated the option with each other, their eyes meeting in a silent conversation, but in the end they stayed silent and did nothing to stop the older boy, Hito, beating up his little brother.

“Why should I let you go?” Hito hissed. The hollow sound of skin being smacked filled the air. “You stole my position, you little bastard child. Why shouldn’t I beat you until you’re within an inch of your life?”

“It’s not his fault that coach picked him over you to set!” Tendou cried out. He just wanted to stop this. Why did it have to be Kagehina that they decided to beat up? Why couldn’t they have beat him up instead? “If you’re going to get mad at anyone, get mad at me! I’m the one who taught him how to play volleyball after all. Beat me up instead. Please!”

The boy sneered, eyes narrowing onto Tendou. “How sweet,” Hito purred out. “The monster cares about his poor wittle brother. I’m touched.” He dramatically placed a hand over his heart as he gazed up at the ceiling in mock disbelief. “How could I ever have hurt a single hair on his pwecious wittle brother’s head?”

Tendou felt his heart dive into his stomach as Hito stepped closer to Kagehina, his hand cradling the side of his brother’s face he’d slapped only moments before. “Poor, little King. Always given exactly what he wants when he wants it. Coach bows down to him as well as the other first years. Even his brother worships the ground his walks on. I’m tired of this little game. I’m tired of being pushed aside for some brat whose mind is as empty as his father’s pockets. Why should I be pushed around by this bastard child when I’m a better setter than he is? Why should I be cast aside for this nobody setter who has the balls to take my spot on the starting roster? Huh?!” Hito glared at Tendou, his head tilted questioningly.

“He’s not nobody,” Tendou muttered, his words too soft for Hito to fully hear.

Hito squinted his eyes at him. “What’d you say, you freak?”

Tendou looked up from where he’d been staring at the ground, face set in a murderous expression as he stared down the other boy across from him. “I said he’s not nobody, you scrub. Kagehina is my brother and if you think for a moment that you can even be near someone as kind hearted and pure as my little brother, then you have another thing coming for you.”

Turning slightly, he kneed the boy on his left in the groin and elbowed the other boy to the right in the stomach. They both keeled over, leaving Tendou to stalk towards Hito. The other boy’s expression had soured, face drained of blood as his eyes darted around to look for an escape. But there were none.

In the blink of an eye, Tendou was towering above Hito, his cool expression hiding the fiery hatred and anger beneath. Blink. His hands were holding onto the lapels of Hito’s jersey, knees pinning the man to the floor. Blink. Blink. Blink. Tendou stood up, leaving the broken boy behind him as his wails echoed against the wall of lockers.

Kagehina gazed up at him, awe and admiration shining through his blood streaked face. “That was so cool, Tori! You’re the greatest hero ever!”

His heart panged at those words. “I’m no hero, Kags. I’m just your brother. Remember that.”  
____________________________________________________________________________

 

The day had started off fine until Tendou’s phone had started to ring. He looked up for a moment where he’d been straddling his boyfriend, lips dangerously close to the side of his neck. The skin was already blooming a light purple from a trail of hickeys he’d left only minutes earlier.

“Shouldn’t you answer that?” Ushijima inquired, barely phased by what had been happening between them.

Tendou lifted up his face until his lips hovered over Ushijima’s own, a seductive smirk overtaking his lips. “It’s probably not anything important,” he sighed out, swooping in for a quick kiss before pulling back again. “Let’s just get back to this, okay?” He gestured between their bulging pants, eyebrows wiggling suggestively.

The phone stopped ringing soon after that. Tendou let out a silent sigh of relief. He wanted to enjoy every part of Ushijima he could and no phone call was going to stop that. Except…

The phone rang again. And again. And again. Irritated, Tendou finally picked up his phone after the fourth time someone tried to call him, not bothering to check the caller id as he snarled, “What do you want?” into the phone.

The sounds of sniffling and someone choking back tears filled the receiver. “Tori, can you come here? I-” The voice hiccuped. “I think I messed up.”

Tendou’s whole body seemed to freeze. “Where?”

“Outside th-th-the d-drive in m-movie theater. I… I don’t know what to do and you’re the only one I thought of that could help me. Please. My friends can’t know.”

The phone line clicked off.

Tendou crawled off Ushijima, too focused to notice his call of, “Babe?” as he pulled on his pants, chucked his shoes on, and ran out the door. Time lost all meaning as Tendou flew through the streets, the off setting cold barely registering in his mind. All he could think was one single sentence over and over again like a mantra.

Someone hurt Kagehina.

Someone hurt Kagehina.

Someone hurt Kagehina.

And he was going to kill them.

He finally spotted Kagehina after frantically searching the area around the drive-in movie theater.His brother was slumped against the wall, legs splayed outward at awkward angles that Tendou knew shouldn’t be humanly possible.

Kagehina lifted his face up as he heard Tendou’s approaching footsteps, a tired smile masking the pain he could see in his little brother’s eyes. “Tori! You came. I’m so glad…” He slumped over, every part of his body loosened and limp.

“Kags?” Tendou’s eyes roamed over Kagehina’s body as panic hit him hard. “This- this isn’t funny okay? Stop pretending to be unconsciousness. It’s not funny anymore. It’s not funny. It’s not funny.” His voice had become increasingly high pitched throughout this ordeal as he stared at the unmoving body of his little brother.

Logic finally took over his body as Tendou slowly took his phone that he had been clutching in his right hand and typed in 911, holding it closely towards his ear as he waited for an operator to pick up.

“This is 911. What’s your emergency?”

“My uh, my brothers unconscious in front of me? I… I don’t know what to do. It’s not funny anymore, Kags. Please get up. Please get up. Please…” Tendou broke down, tears streaming down his face as he held Kagehina as close as he could with one arm.

“Sir, could you tell me where you are right now?”

“In front of the drive-in movie theater downtown. I-” His voice cut off with a sob. “Please help my brother. Please. He’s all I have left.”

“We’ve already dispatched an ambulance to your location. Sir, I need you to stay calm in this situation, okay? Everything will be alright.”

“You don’t understand! This isn’t the first time something like this has happened… First it was the parkour incident that left him with his left leg in a cast for two months. Then he’d shown up drunk at my doorstep with an inch of his life left as he collapsed in front of me of later had to get his stomach pumped. And now this. It’s the middle of the night and my little brother is once again unconscious in front of me. Why? Why must he do this to me? I don’t want to be his hero anymore. I don’t want to have this worry in my heart that Kags is always up to something bad. I can’t do this anymore. I-I can’t.”  
_____________________________________________

“Kagehina has been diagnosed with paraplegia. I’m not sure if he will be able to continue to play volleyball with this condition.”

Tendou heard the words. He saw the doctor’s lips moving as he said those words. Yet, not a single word registered in his mind.

Paraplegia was a type of paralysis that affected the diagnosed person with paralysis below the waist and varied on its severity from day to day. Sometimes the person could feel fine with nothing hindering their footsteps. The next day, they could be bedridden from the paralysis, unable to move anything at all below their waist. It was most commonly caused by spinal cord injuries, head injuries, and occasionally from sports related injuries to the spinal cord. Fifty-six percent of paraplegia injuries will happen to someone between the ages of sixteen and thirty.

Tendou heard the facts. He saw the doctor’s lips moving as he said them. Yet, he still didn’t understand why Kagehina had to be one of them. He didn’t understand how a noncontact sport such as volleyball had left his brother partially paralysed depending on the day. He didn’t understand.

Something in Tendou must have snapped as he watched over Kagehina’s sleeping body. If he was his brother’s hero, then why had this happened? If he was his brother’s hero, then why didn’t he save the day? Had he ever saved Kagehina or just spurred him on into the next situation? The next experience that increased the decline of Tendou’s mental health and Kagehina’s physical health.

Gazing at his brother one last time, Tendou turned around and left the room, face becoming more closed off with every step he took. This was the last time he was going to tolerate with Kagehina’s bullcrap. It was the last time he’d worry over someone who didn’t even seem to care for his own health and well-being. This was the last time Tendou would try to help Kagehina, yet only succeed in hurting himself once again.

Tendou walked out of Kagehina’s life without a second thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll admit, I could have written and posted this last week. Instead, I wrote a soulmate one-shot for one of my collections. Um, I got distracted? Here's the finished product of that fic if you want to read that though. It's gotten an amazing reaction so far, so I can't say I'm completely sorry for putting this off for a few days XD
> 
> Anywho, uh question of the chapter: What's your favorite character in Haikyu?
> 
> Mine is definitely Tsukishima because of his snarky and always sassy attitude that I just love. I mean, how could you not love his ever smirking face?
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Have a bloody fantastic week and keep smiling! Love you guys!  
> [ **Blinded by Love**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14071143) (2394 words) by [**neo7v**](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neo7v)  
>  Chapters: 1/1  
> Fandom: [Haikyuu!!](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Haikyuu!!)  
> Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  
> Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply  
> Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kindaichi Yuutarou/Kunimi Akira, Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi  
> Characters: Iwaizumi Hajime, Oikawa Tooru, Kindaichi Yuutarou, Kunimi Akira, Hanamaki Takahiro, Matsukawa Issei, Yamaguchi Tadashi, Tsukishima Kei, Goshiki Tsutomu  
> Additional Tags: Blind Character, Tailoring, Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Soulmates, Weddings, Wedding Fluff, Fluff  
> Series: Part 2 of [Soulmark Chronicles](https://archiveofourown.org/series/897918)  
> Summary:
> 
> At the first touch of hands, a tattoo is made between soulmates as an everlasting bond. This touch could be a handshake, a high five, or even a mere brush across the back of each other’s hands. As soon as their hands touch, they are bound for life. However, whether that bond is platonic or not is up to the soulmates and not the mark itself.
> 
> Even in a business such as this, Oikawa had yet to meet his. Even his touch averse roommate had found their soulmate, a trickster of a man named Matsukawa Issei who seemed sketchy, but was quite nice once you got to talking with him for a bit.


	9. Kagehina: A Backstory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The backstory on Kagehina's paraplegia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, slightly late, but tennis has literally taken over my life and updates may be slower than I'd hoped. I'm sorry about that. To top it off, this chapter is half the usual size, but with how I'm setting up the next chapter, it made sense to keep this as a mini chapter in between the last chapter and the upcoming meeting with Hinata and Kageyama and Tendou.
> 
> Without further ado, Enjoy the chapter!

Something was wrong. Hinata tried to ignore the tightening in his gut, but the feeling kept floating back, hovering in the corners of his mind like a pest.

It had been three weeks of this feeling. Two weeks of being Hinata and Kageyama. Three weeks of numbing limbs and coursing fear and wondering when his past self would catch up. The broken relationships he’d left behind and the paraplegia that nipped at his heels. It had been three weeks of this clouded anxiety that was the life Kagehina had led.

“Hinata?”

He glanced at Kageyama beside him. The raven haired man wore a concerned look on his face, peering intently into Hinata’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

Hinata forced a smile onto his face, trying to brighten his eyes too, but failing miserably if the furrow that appeared between Kageyama’s eyebrows said anything. “I’m alright. Just anxious to see my brother again, I guess. It has been three months after all. Do you think he’s still mad at us?”

Kageyama frowned, tilting his head adorably as he thought it over. “Why was he mad at us again?”

Right. Kageyama didn’t remember that fateful day three months ago. It was a day that would haunt Kagehina, and Hinata by extension, until the day he died.  
____________________________________________________________________________

It had just been a practice match with the Tokyo Institution of Arts, the third one of the week. With the preliminaries coming up for the college interhigh spring tournament, Kagehina’s coach had been adamant about cramming in as many practice matches as he could to help the team improve.

All the players had varying levels of exhaustion. Between practices and practice matches, they had little to no time to rest and it was impacting their performances, but none more than Kagehina’s. On top of the strict regimen for volleyball, he hadn’t slept for the past three days, his hours devoted to a short story and painting due in one of his classes that he’d been working on in between studying and sports.

Sweat dripped from his crimson ringlets into his eyes, blurring his vision with every move he made. In between points, his breath felt loud and hollow to his ears and his legs wobbled with every step he took.

The whistle rang shrilly through the air, startling Kagehina from his thoughts and signaling a time-out for the players. He glanced towards the bench, feet dragging as he made his way over to where coach Yuichi stood, his brow creased in concern. He crooked his finger at Kagehina, motioning for him to come over and talk to him.

His coach peered closely at him as he thudded to a stop. “Kagehina, I don’t mean to sound rude, but you look half asleep out there, not to mention the bags under your eyes. Are you feeling alright?”

Kagehina twisted uncomfortably at the close examination. He didn’t want to leave the match. Even missing a second of volleyball seemed wrong to him. He’d been ignored, beaten, and verbally abused for his abilities as a setter, but he’d never wanted to stop playing volleyball and today was not different. If Kagehina admitted his exhaustion to coach, he’d be pulled out in an instant.

“No, sir. I feel fine, truly.” Desperation bled into his voice as he tried to convince his coach of his wellness.

Yuichi must have noticed it too, and he sighed in resignation. “I’ll keep you in for now. But the moment I see you even falter slightly from exhaustion…” He glared at Kagehina with a critical eye. “...I’ll pull you out without a second of hesitation. Have I made myself clear?”

Kagehina grinned. “Yes, coach! Thank you, coach! I promise that you won’t regret this!”

The sound of the whistle pierced the air again as Kagehina ran back to the court to join his teammates. Daishou, one of the wing spikers, gave him a conspiratorial grin. “Ready to destroy the other team?”

Kagehina grinned back at him, his own lips not quite curling in as much as Daishou’s. “Of course. Let’s get this party started.”

 

And so, the set continued until it was their match point at 24-23, and Kagehina was up to serve. The ball sat comfortably in his hands as he bounced it down once, twice, three times and then threw the ball up in a slight arc towards the court, jumping after it a split second later. Perfect. His palm fit against the side of the ball for a moment before momentum caught up and the ball slammed through the air and to the other side of the court.

For a moment, Kagehina thought he’d gotten a no-touch ace, yet it was not to be. The other team’s libero dived for the ball, a dull thud echoing throughout the room as the ball arced towards their setter. Kagehina gritted his teeth, backing up and bracing for the incoming spike.

As the ball flew from the setter’s hands, Daishou and Lev jumped up to block the ball, creating a formidable wall in front of the spiker. The spiker swung, and the ball glanced off of the top of Lev’s fingertips, flying off haphazardly towards the bleachers on the side of the court.

Kagehina’s body was moving before his mind could process what was happening. His legs may have felt like lead and his head dizzy from exhaustion, but one thought remained clear in his mind. He would not let this ball drop.

He wished that he had heard the yells for him to stop and let the ball go. Instead, a white silence surrounded him and his vision tilted and spun as he stretched for the ball. Kagehina’s fist connected with the ball with a resounding thud, sending it spinning back towards their side of the court.

Turning around with a smile on his face, he yelled back to his team, “Got it!” He tried to stop and run back to the court, but his foot slipped, the momentum from running pushing him forward until…

Until his back rammed into the bleachers, an audible crack piercing through the white noise that had filled Kagehina’s head. Pain radiated from his lower back. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It-

Kagehina blacked out.  
______________________

The next time Kagehina had woken up, he’d been in a hospital bed, surrounded by worried teammates and a doctor that had told him to take it easy for a few weeks, but otherwise he would be fine and back to practicing in no time.

The doctors hadn’t realized that the damage was more than just a few bruises on his lower back. If only they had caught the nerve damage earlier. If only they had ran a few more tests just in case. Maybe then Kagehina wouldn’t have been diagnosed a week later with paraplegia. And maybe he would have been able to continue volleyball without worrying his legs would collapse on him at any second. If only. If only. If only.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't noticed already, I've decided to finish the fic in twelve chapters. It was supposed to be longer, but I've started to lose interest in the plot of the story and I've already gotten a new original story idea planned with my own OC's that I'll upload to this account, even though I realize original works don't get as many hits.
> 
> I've also made varsity for tennis this year (YAY), so I won't have a lot of time to get around to finishing this story up with a good ending. I will try to finish this before the end of the school year, but I make no promises except that I will finish this story.
> 
> I hope you guys have a fantastic week! See ya next time!

**Author's Note:**

> I actually have a friend who's just starting out on ao3 and I absolutely adore her work! She's currently working on an apocalyptic zombie fanfic and you should totally check her out at the link below!  
> [ **undead**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13187502)
> 
> If you liked this chapter, make sure to subscribe at the top to get emails on when I update! I promise you won't be disappointed!!!
> 
> Have a great rest of the day!


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